i 

i 



"I 




SPAIN 

UNDER 

CHARLES THE SECOND. 



SPAIN 

UNDER 

CHARLES THE SECOND; 

OR a 

©xtracts from tfje (Korrespntiettre 

OF 

THE HON. ALEXANDER STANHOPE, 

BRITISH MINISTER AT MADRID. 
1690—1699. 

SELECTED FROM THE ORIGINALS AT CHEVENING 

BY LORD MAHON. 



" Non tamen adeo virtutum sterile seculum, ut non et bona exempla prodiderit." 

' Tacit. 



j^ecnntf ^tttttnu, mlitxQtH. 



LONDON: 
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 

MDCCCXLIV. 



A' 



LONDON : 

BRADBURY AND EVA XS, PRINTERS, WHITfiPRfAR 



T , M btV of Coogre-i 



WAV 9 1C25 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

PREFACE 1 

LETTER 

i. Arrival at Coruna — The new Queen of Spain . . 3 

11. Journey of the Queen towards Madrid .... 4 

in. Expenses of Madrid — Death of the Duke of Alva . 5 

iv. The Queen Mother — The Conde de Oropesa . . 6 

v. Post-office Reforms — Mr. Oliver Hill .... 7 

vi. Envoy to Marocco 8 

vii. A new President of Castille— A new Commission to 

Seville . . . , 1 .-" . . . . . . 9 

vni. Festivities on the news of the reduction of Cork 

and Kinsale . . 10 

ix. The Flota from the Indies 11 

x. Envoy from Marocco . ib. 

xi. Ill treatment of the British squadron at Cadiz ; and o 

the British merchants at Malaga . . . . . 1-2 

xii. The Envoy of Savoy 13 

xiii. State of the Spanish Fleet — The Post-office . . . 14 

xiv. Description of Alicant 15 

xv. Description of Majorca lg 

b 



Vi CONTEXTS. 

LETTER PAGE 

xvi. Mr. Oliver Hill and the Post-office .... 18 

xvn. Quarrel between the Alguazils and the King's 

Guard of Archers i b. 

xviii. Retirement of Don Manuel de Lira .... 19 

xix. Exile of the Conde de Oropesa — New Councillors 

of State — Taking of Urgel by the French . . ib. 

xx. Arrest of a Swiss Protestant in Mr. Stanhope's 

service by the Inquisition 21 

xxi. The French Fleet in the Mediterranean . . . 22 

xxii. The Queen's Illness — Lamb frozen with ice . . ib. 

xxi ii. The Marques de Mancera 23 

xxiv. A Mascara on horseback ib. 

xxv. The Captain of the Leopard man-of-war . . . 24 

xxvi. Death of Mr. Stanhope's Chaplain — Difficulties as 

to his interment ib. 

xxvu. Dulness of Madrid at that period 27 

xxvm. Affair of the Chaplain continued ib. 

xxix. A Pracmatica ib, 

xxx. An Alcalde struck with palsy from grief ... 28 

xxxi. Duties levied at Cadiz ib. 

xxxii. Climate of Madrid in winter ib. 

xxxin. Envoy of the Elector of Brandenburg . . . . 29 

xxxiv. Financial Embarrassments — The Privileges of the 

Basque Provinces ib. 

xxxv. Don Crispin Botello Secretary of State ... 30 

xxxv i. The Basque Privileges 31 

xxxvii. No answers sent by the Court of Spain to any 

Memorials ib. 

xxxviii. Project of delivering up Flanders to the Dutch . 32 



CONTENTS. Vll 

LETTER PAGK 

xxxix. French galleys off the coast of Catalonia . . . 32 

xl. Loss of Namur — •Murmuriiigs of the people . . 33 

xli. Death of the Bishop of Malaga 34 

xlii. New Junta of Finance 35 

xliii. The Marques de Mancera — Death of the famous 

Valenzuela 36 

xliv. Journey of Catherine of Braganza, Queen Dowager 

of England 37 

xlv. The Queen Dowager — The new Junta of Finance 38 

xlyi. Don Manuel Arias — Rumours of a Valido . . 39 

xlvii. The King's devotions and hunting . . . . 40 

xlviii. Difference bet ween the Courts of Madrid and of Rome 41 

xlix. Audience of the King—A British squadron in the 

Mediterranean . . ib. 

l. Gordon of Horseguards round Madrid . . « 43 

li. Complaint to the Marques of Mancera on the 

stopping and visiting Mr. Stanhope's coach . 44 

lii. Reply of the Marques 45 

lhi. Affair of the coach continued 47 

liv. All the foreign ministers confined to Madrid . . 48 

lv. Quarrel between the Venetian Ambassador and the 

Conde de Anover 49 

lvi. Prohibition of the English in Sicily from keeping 

any fire-arms . . 50 

lvii. Don Francisco de Velasco, Governor of Cadiz . . 51 

LYin. Surrender of Rosas to the French . . . .52 

lix. News from Catalonia ib. 

lx. Insolence of the Horseguards round Madrid . . 53 

lxi. Tertian and Quartan fevers 54 



viii CONTENTS. 

LETTER PAGE 

lxii. Sickly state of Madrid 54 

lxiii. Death of the Duke of Infant ado ib . 

lxiv. Recommendation to the Secretary-at-war . . 55 

lxv. Project of raising 36,000 men ib. 

lxvi. Losses in Italy ib. 

lxvii. Spanish formalities 56 

lxviii. French squadron off Cadiz ib. 

lxix. Sixty English prisoners in the Flota . . . . 57 

lxx. Levies at Madrid — Rigour of the winter . . . ib. 

lxxi. Hardships of the Cordon round Madrid . . . 58 

lxxii. Death of Don Juan de Angulo, Secretary of the 

Council ib. 

lxxiii, Naval preparations 59 

lxxiv. Want of rain and fears of famine .... ib. 

lxxv. Express from Cadiz 60 

lxxvi. Several meetings of the Council 61 

lxxvii. Battle of the Ter, in Catalonia ib. 

lxxviii. The Duke of Montalto's pride 62 

lxxix. Death of the Duke of Ossuna . . . . . . 63 

lxxx. News of the English squadron ib. 

lxxxi. Tumult at Zaragoza 64 

lxxxii. Don Alonso Carnero . . - ib. 

lxxxiii. Siege of Gerona by the French ib. 

lxxxiv. The town capitulates 65 

lxxxv. Terms of the capitulation ib. 

lxxxvi. Admiral Russell 66 

lxxxvii. The Spaniards raise the siege of Ostalric . . . 67 

lxxxviii. Distress for money 68 



CONTENTS. ix 

LETTER PAGE 

lxxxix. The new Captain-General of Catalonia . . . 69 

xc. Helplessness of Spain ib. 

xci. Cabals at Madrid against the Countess of Berlips 70 

xcn. Juntas and Councils . . . . . . .71 

xciii. Banishment of the Conde de Banos . . . . ib. 

xciv. Rigour of the season 72 

xcv. Factions at Court ib. 

xcvi. Scarcity of provisions 73 

xcvn. Changes of administration . 74 

xcvm. The posts stopped by the winter floods . . . ib. 

xcix. Orders and counter-orders to the Conde de 

Oropesa 75 

c. Influence of the young Queen ib. 

ci. Bravery of the Catalan peasants . . . .76 

en. Raising of the Cordon round Madrid . . . . ib. 

cm. Further successes of the Catalans . , . .77 

civ. Death of Lord Halifax . . . . . . . 78 

cv. Confidence reposed in the Catalan peasants . . 79 

cvi. Alliance between Spain and Algiers . . . ib. 

evil. Death of Lieut. A. Stanhope, R. N 80 

cvm. Presents to the Dey of Algiers 81 

cix. Desertion from the French Army . . . . ib. 

ex. Siege of Palamos raised 82 

cxi. Message from Court to the Dutch Envoy . . . ib. 

cxn. The Dutch Envoy expelled from Madrid . . 83 

cxiii. Cabals against the Queen ib. 

cxiv. High and Low Church in England .... 84 

cxv. Insensibility of the Court of Spain . . . . 85 

bS 



X CONTENTS. 

LETTER PAGE 

cxvi. The English sick refused admittance to the Hos- 
pital at Cadiz 85 

cxvn. Affair of the Dutch Envoy 86 

cxviii. Mr. Stanhope is forbid to appear at Court . . 87 

cxix. A French Spy — The Inquisition at Barcelona . 88 

cxx. A Spanish Armada sent to sea 89 

cxxi. Rise in the Exchange 90 

cxxn. Illness of Sir William Godolphin ib. 

cxxiii. The Governor-General of Catalonia becomes in- 
sane » ... 91 

cxxiv. Illness of the Queen Mother — A Holy Man, a 

Seventh Son ib. 

cxxv. The Spaniards and Portuguese on the Minio . . 92 

cxxvi. Great Council of State 93 

cxxvu. Death of the Queen Mother 94 

cxxvui. Don Francisco de Velasco ib. 

cxxix. Sale of the Government of Cadiz .... 95 

cxxx. Speculations on a Peace ib, 

cxxxi. Death and Testament of Sir William Godolphin . 96 

cxxxn. Reports of the Queen's pregnancy . . . . 97 

cxxxiii. Her dangerous illness ib. 

cxxxiv. Mr. Godolphin insanits quoad hoc — Extreme heat 

of the summer 98 

cxxxv. Relics of St. Isidro , ib. 

cxxxvi. Illness of the King 99 

cxxxvu. His Majesty's broken constitution .... ib. 

c xxxviii. He solemnly makes his will 100 

cxxxix. Rejoicings at his recovery 101 



CONTENTS. XI 

LETTER PAGE 

cxl. The Marques de Villadarias 102 

cxli. Relapse of the King — Speculation on the succes- 
sion to the Monarchy ib. 

cxlii. Testamentarios of Sir William Godolphin . . . 104 

cxliii. Ruin of the finances 105 

cxliv. Mrs. Eliot 106 

cxlv. New pretenders to the succession .... 107 
cxlvi. Voluntary contribution proposed 108 

cxlvii. Royal licence to shoot rabbits ib. 

cxlviit. The King's field-sports — Viceroys of Mexico and 

Peru 109 

cxlix. The King and Queen at Aranjuez , . . .110 

cl. Siege of Barcelona by the French Ill 

cli. Sixty mules laden with silver ib. 

clii. The Admiral of Castille 112 

cliii. Siege of Barcelona ib. 

cliv. The Queen's Confessor — The Count Harrach . .113 

clv. Barcelona 114 

clvi. Count Harrach's entiy ib. 

clvii. Capitulation of Barcelona — Anger of the Prince 

of Hesse — Great preparations at Madrid . .115 

clviii. Public eagerness for Peace 117 

clix. The wife of St. Isidro canonized ib. 

clx. Joyful news of the peace of Ryswick . . . . 118 

clxi. Public festivities and rejoicings ib. 

clxii. The King and Queen at Alcala — The Conde de 

Cifuentes 119 

clxiii. The Admiral of Castille 121 



xii CONTENTS. 

LETTER PAGE 

clxiv. A bull-fight 121 

clxv. The Admiral retires to the palace . . . .122 

clxvi. Second challenge of the Conde de Cifuentes . ib. 

clxvii. Offer of Dutch garrisons in Flanders . . . 123 

clxviii. A pregon and a desafio ib. 

clxix. The King diverts himself with the Admiral's fears 124 

clxx. The Duke de Harcourt 125 

clxxi. The King's declining health ib. 

clxxii. Cardinal Porto Carrero — The Queen's fainting fits 126 

clxxiii. The King's journey to Toledo 127 

clxxiv. Audience of the French Ambassador . . . 128 
clxxv. Rigour of the season — Apprehended scarcity . ib. 
clxxvi. Banishment of the Marquesa de Gadagne — De- 
fence of Ceuta 129 

clxxvii. The Conde de Cifuentes 131 

clxxviii. Insults to the Queen at Toledo .... ib. 

clxxix. The two Cifuentes, father and son . . . . 132 
clxxx. The French Ambassador — Inclinations of the 

people to a French Prince 133 

clxxxi. The King and the gardener at Toledo . . . 134 

clxxxii. The King's looks described 135 

clxxxiii. The French in Spain 136 

clxxxiv. Sudden and violent illness of the King . .137 

clxxxv. Intrigues of the French and Austrian parties . ib. 
clxxxvi. Partial recovery of the King — Diet of hens fed 

with vipers' flesh 138 

clxxxvii. The Admiral of Castille named Principe de la 

Mar 139 



CONTENTS. xii 

LETTER PAGE 

clxxxviii. The French Ambassadress 139 

clxxxix. The Venetian Ambassador and his page . . 140 

cxc. Young Count Berlips ib. 

cxci. Dispute on ceremonial with Count Harrach — 

Garden of Chamartin 142 

cxcii. The two Harrachs, father and son . . . 144 
cxciii. Illness of the Conde de Oropesa — The Hos- 

pidaje 145 

cxciv. Letter from the King of Mequinez, in favour of 

James the Second ib. 

cxcv. Lures from France to the Queen of Spain . . 146 

cxc vi. Inquiry as to heretics at Coruna .... ib. 

cxcvu. French Gazettes 147 

cxcvin. The French Ambassador — Plaster on the King's 

stomach — Count Harrach ib. 

cxcix. Snows and Floods on the road to Coruna . . 148 

cc. The Admiral's lady .149 

cci. An English painter at Madrid ib. 

ecu. Preparations of the French Ambassador for de- 
parture 150 

com. Dissatisfaction of the Court of Versailles . . 151 

eciv. Declaration in Council of a Testament in favour 

of the Prince of Bavaria ib. 

ccv. Scarcity of money at Madrid 152 

ccvi. Jealousy at the last treaty of partition . .153 

ccvu. Memorial from the French Ambassador on the 

Succession ib. 

cevm. Answer from the Court of Madrid . . .154 

ccix. No preparations made in consequence . . . ib. 



XIV CONTENTS. 



LETTER PAGE 

ccx. Civilities of the French loo 

ccxt. Death of the Prince of Bavaria — False reports 

on England ib. 

ccxii. The Scotch Plantation at Darien .... 156 
ccxin. Irish Friars at Madrid . . . . . * . . 157 

ccxiv. Padre Froylan Diaz ib. 

ccxv. Memorials of the French on Darien . . . . 158 
ccxvi. Instructions of Mr. Secretary Vernon on Darien . 159 

ccxvn. Second despatch 161 

ccxvni. Winds " as sharp as a razor" — Mr. Locke . . ib. 
ccxix. Death of the King's late Confessor from grief at 

his dismissal ib. 

ccxx. Affair of Darien 162 

ccxxi. Great Tumult at Madrid ib. 

ccxxn. Results the next day — The English Stage . . .167 
ccxxni. The new Corregidor — Affair of Darien . . .168 
ccxxiv. The Cardinal of Cordova — Scarcity of Provisions . 169 
ccxxv. Banishment of the Conde de Oropesa — Court 

factions 170 

ccxxvi. The King's dinner alone at the Pardo . . . . 171 
cc xxvii. Offers of the Conde de Cifuentes . . . .172 

ccxxviii. High price of bread ib. 

ccxxix. Tumult at Valladolid ib. 

ccxxx. Sufferings of the poor — 20.000 beggars flocked in 

from the country 173 

ccxxxi. Manoeuvres of Porto Carrero 174 

ccxxxii. Banishment of the Admiral of Castille — The pri- 
soners of the Carcel de la Villa break loose . . ib. 



CONTEXTS. XV 

LETTER PAGE 

ccxxxm. Five poor Women stifled to death before a bake- 
house 176 

ccxxxiv. Factions at Court — Exportation of coarse wools 

prohibited ib. 

ccxxxv. The new Parma Envoy 178 

ccxxxvi. Increasing illness of the King — Brazo de Plata 179 

ccxxxvii. Climate of Madrid in summer .... 180 

ccxxxvin. Difference of English and Scotch . . . . 181 

ccxxxix. The King's illness said to be witchcraft — 

Countess de Beiiips the witch — A good cook ib. 

ccxl. Scarcity and sickness at Madrid . . . .183 

ccxli. Correspondence on Darien with Rome . . . ib. 

ccxlii. The Paseo del Rio 184 

ccxliii. Want of bread 185 

ccxliv. Court factions ib. 

ccxlv. A new Chaplain — Bishop Burnet — Muger de 

Govierno 186 

ccxlvi. Expedition against Darien . . . . . 187 

ccxlvii. The French on the Mississippi ib. 

ccxlviii. Tumults and pasquinades 188 

ccxlix. Banishment of the Countess of Beiiips — Dwarfs 

at the Spanish Court 189 

ccl. Insult to a King's man-of-war at Lisbon . . 190 

ccli. The King opens the coffins of his ancestors at 

the Escurial ib. 

cclii. Exorcist from Germany to dissolve the spells 

by which the King is bound . . . .191 

ccliii. Removal of the Scotch from Darien . . . . 192 

ccliv. Complaint to the Spanish Court against their 

Ambassador in London ib. 



xvi CONTENTS. 

LETTER PAGE 

cclv. Project of removing the King to Seville and 

Granada 194 

cclvi. Mr. Stanhope is ordered to leave the Spanish 

dominions 195 

cclv ii. Preparations for his journey 196 

cclviii. Cabals at Madrid ib. 

cclix. Observations on them from Paris . . . . 197 

cclx. Death of the King of Spain 198 

cclxi. Receipt for rearing melons 200 

cclxii. Description of Cordova and Granada . . . 201 

cclxiii. Account of the expedition against Cadiz in 1702 206 

cclxi v. Account of the invasion of Portugal by the 

Spaniards in 1704 212 



PREFACE 
TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



Alexander Stanhope, the youngest son of the first 
Earl of Chesterfield, was born in 1639. In 1689, he 
was appointed British Minister at Madrid, where he 
continued till 1699, when he was ordered to quit the 
kingdom ; the Spanish government being deeply and 
justly offended at the conclusion of the Treaty of Parti- 
tion. He was then appointed Minister at the Hague, 
and remained there till shortly before his death, in 1707. 

He married a daughter of Arnold Burghill, Esq. of 
Thingehill Parva, in the county of Hereford, and his 
eldest son, James, was the first Earl Stanhope. 

The following extracts have been selected from his 
very numerous letters and despatches, which are pre- 
served at Chevening. He has also left a MS. work 
" On the Causes of the Decay of the Spanish Govern- 
" ment, under the Kings of the Austrian family," — and 
the great Lord Chatham, to whom it was shown sixty 
years afterwards, stated in the letter with which he 
returned it : " The whole piece is full of sagacity and 
" judgment." 

B 



2 



The correspondence now presented to the reader will, 
it is hoped, in a compendious form, display a vivid and 
authentic picture of Spain during the ten years, so 
interesting to all Europe, which preceded the death of 
the last of the Austrian Kings. If it should be thought 
that the Spanish statesmen, or the Spanish generals — 
their councils or their armies — have been portrayed by 
Mr. Stanhope in too dark colours, it should be borne in 
mind, that the period in question was when manifold 
corruptions, and long-continued misrule, had reduced 
the Spanish nation to the lowest point of decline which 
it ever has known, and that it had not then the oppor- 
tunity, which the War of the Succession so soon after- 
wards afforded, of evincing anew its constancy and 
courage. Mahon. 

Cheyening, August, 1839. 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

The interest which several persons have expressed in 
this correspondence, has encouraged me in the present 
edition to increase very considerably the number of 
extracts; and I venture to hope that these additions 
will be found still further to illustrate the history and 
manners of the period. M. 

London, January, 1844. 



SPAIN 

UNDER 

CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO THE EARL OF SHREWSBURY, SECRETARY 
OF STATE. 

The Groyne (Coruna), April, 1690. 

This is the first opportunity I have had of writing 

since we came into Spain, where we were forced into a 

small port called Ferrol, three leagues short of the 

Groyne, and by the ignorance of a Spanish pilot our 

ships fell foul one with another, and the Admiral^* ship 

was on ground for some hours, but got off clear without 

any damage. The storm was very violent. The Queen 

of Spain t landed at Ferrol, to come by land for the 

Groyne ; she stays by the way at the Conde de Lemos' 

house, and is expected here this day to dinner, where 

there is a great concourse of Grandees to receive her, 

and fire-works prepared for her entertainment 

The King will be at Valladolid to meet her. 

* Admiral Russell, afterw ards Earl of Orford. 

+ Maria Anna of Neuburg, second wife of Charles the Second of Spain, 
and sister to the Empress, and to the Queen of Portugal. She was just 
betrothed, and on her way to her husband. 

B 2 



4 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO THE EARL OF SHREWSBURY. 

Coruna, April 19, 1690. 
The Queen of Spain left this place the 15th, where I 
am forced still to continue, till the mules which went in 
her Majesty's train return back from Astorga, which 

will be about fifteen clays I find the Queen's 

reception has been much meaner than it would have 
been, out of a pique the Spanish Grandees have against 
Count Mansfeld, who was preferred before them all to 
the honour of bringing her over, by the favour of the 
Queen-Mother,* contrary to the advice of the Council of 
Castille. The officers of our fleet are all dissatisfied, 
both with their presents and manner of reception, as 
your Lordship will hear at large from Mr. Russell. 



TO THE EARL OF SHREWSBURY. 

Madrid, 1690. 

The most unhappy news I have heard since I left 
England was that of your Lordship's retirement, from 
whence I soon foresaw what was likely to follow. I am 
sure as to my particular, it was the most unfortunate 
stroke could befall me. I find myself here in a country 
where, though the government is as yet very civil, yet 
almost every particular person is an enemy. Here are 
but two English merchants in Madrid, both of the 
country religion : and I have seen but two Protestants, 
one Swedish gentleman, and a Dutch merchant. Since 

* Maria Anna of Austria, daughter of the Emperor Ferdinand III., and 
widow of King Philip IV. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



I am here, a thousand stories are invented and indus- 
triously spread to the disadvantage of our affairs — such 
power has religion even over men's greatest interests. 
The advices we have from England are very uncertain 
and imperfect, so that we cannot know the true state of 
things, whereby to oppose the malice of our enemies. 
Add to all this, that after so long and chargeable a 
voyage of near six months, I have a house to take and 
furnish, and coach and mules to buy, in the dearest place 
in the world; without which I cannot appear according 
to the style of these people, nor without reflections on 
the honour of my King and country. I have little 
reason to expect credit among people to whom I am an 
utter stranger, and who besides hate both me and my 
business. I humbly beseech your Lordship, therefore, 
to intercede in my behalf with Mr. Hampden and your 
other Mends at the Treasury, for the speedy payment of 
a quarter that is due to me, as also of my bill of extra- 
ordinaries. 

The day before yesterday died here the Duke of Alva, 
being fourscore years of age. This is all the news this 
place affords.* 

* This appears to be the same Duke of Alva mentioned by the Marechal 
de Grammont in his embassy to Madrid in 1659. — " Ayant tonjours oui 
" parler de ces grands homines, qui avaient eu part an gouvernement de la 
"monarchic, sous lesregnes de Ferdinand, de Charles-Quint, et de Philippe 
" II., je m'etais imagine' que les enfans avaient herite de la lumiere de leurs 
" peres ; et j'ecoutais un jour avec grande disposition a admirer ce que 
" j'entendrais dire au Due d'Albe, le grand-pere de celui que nous avous vu 
u recemment Ambassadeur en France, qui etait un fort bon geuulhomine, 
c< mais des plus ignares,lequel s'engageant par malheur a raconter une histoire 
" de son ayeul qui avait gouverne les Pays-Bas, et cause' leur entiere revoke. 
" ne se put jamais souvenir du nom du Prince d'Orange, qui servait a sol 



6 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM, SECRETARY OF STATE. 

Madrid, August 9, 1690. 

I am of opinion, that a compliment by letter from 
either of their Majesties to the Queen-Mother here, may 
be a means to facilitate their service in this Court. She 
has a great sway in affairs ; and I find it was resented I 
brought no letter, at my arrival here, to her as well as to 
the King and Queen, which I was forced to supply by a 
verbal compliment to her at my audience, the best I 
could. 

The Conde de Oropesa has resigned his presidentship 
of Castille, and is made President of the Council of Italy, 
a post both of more profit and ease. The King grants 
him still the precedency in place as President of Castille, 
and therefore, the Archbishop of Zaragoza, who succeeds 
him in the Council of Castille, has not the title of Presi- 
dente, only Gobernador del Consejo. Oropesa continues 
in effect Valido, though without the name, and is in my 
opinion the ablest man I have met with in Spain. 

" propos, et en sortit en 1' appellant toujours El Rebelde ! * — (Memo-ires du 
Marechal de Grammont, vol. ii. p. 269, ed. 1716.) The son and successor 
of this Duke came to a singular and untimely end ; according to Lou- 
ville, " il est demeure trois ans couch e sur le meme cote, parcequ'il avait 
" promis a sa maitresse de ne se retourner que quand elle viendrait le voir ; 
u or comme elle ne vint pas il y mourut a la peine \" — (Louville to Torcy, 
August 10j 1703.) Again, the grandson, who was Duke of Alva after 1703, 
is described by the same authority as, (i l'homme le plus triste et le plus 
" serieux que j'ai jamais vu. II est devenu amoureux d'une dame du 
" palais, sceur du Due d'Ossuna, aussi laide que lui; et comme il n'y voit 
" goutte, e'est son valet qui fait de loin les signes pour lui ! 91 — (Memoires 
de Louville, vol. ii. p. 94.) 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



7 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, August 23, 1690. 

I was in inexpressible apprehensions for the safety of 
his Majesty's person, till my letters yesterday brought 
me the happy assurances of his health and continued 
successes ; for the French had possessed the generality of 
the people here, that he died of his wounds some days 
after the battle.* 

This morning I was with Don Manuel de Lira, to 
complain of my ill-usage at the post-house, who make 
me pay for the letters brought by our packet-boats at 
his Majesty's charge, as if they came all the way by land 
through Flanders and France. He promised me to 
speak to the King in it, and took occasion thence to 
mention Mr. Oliver Hill and his extravagant humour, 
saying, he had had great patience with him; that the 
design of conveying letters by our packet-boats was a 
good design, and for the benefit of both nations, but 
that it must necessarily meet with opposition from 
several private persons concerned, to overcome which it 
were convenient to employ some person of a smoother 
temper, pour adoucir les choses, as he worded it, adding, 
I should do well to signify the same into England, if I 
thought they desired there ever to have the matter 
settled, for that he (Mr. Hill) could never do any good 
in it. In my last I gave your Lordship my own opinion 
of the man ; you have now that of one of the greatest 
ministers of this Court, to the same purpose. I would 

* Of the Boyoe. 



8 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

send your Lordship his papers, but that I do not think it 
so proper to let them pass through his hands at the 
Coruna, where he now is e Only this for a taste of the 
rest ; in a letter he sent me last post open for me to 
read, then seal, and deliver to the Secretary of State, 
Don Crispin Botello, there is this expression, Le Comte 
de Onate merite d'etre pendu. Now, this Count de 
Onate is a Grandee of Spain, post-master-general, and 
the principal person with whom he has to do in his nego- 
tiation. I have for his sake, as well as my own, stifled 
all these letters, which, had I delivered, the Conde would 
certainly have had him dispatched. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, September 13, 1690. 

An envoy is going from this Court to the King of 
Marocco, to treat about the redemption of the prisoners 
taken at Larache, which is the first any King of Spain 
has ever sent to a Mahometan prince, since the expul- 
sion of the Moors out of Spain. 

The merchants from our ports ply me with complaints 
of the violences they suffer, contrary to our articles of 
peace ; and I am not negligent in soliciting my Com- 
missary, the Marques of Mancera, and the northern 
Secretary of State, for redress, by repeated memorials, 
but have not yet been able to obtain an answer to any 
one. I know not what any more to do. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



9 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, September 27, 1690. 

Our new President or Governor of Castille shows 
himself a great justiciary, obliging the Grandees to pay 
their debts, and put their mistresses into monasteries,* 
of which there are several pleasant stories. He calls 
for accounts from all treasurers of the public revenue, 
and particularly of the town of Madrid, who have a 
considerable part of it engaged to them. His severity 
makes many people tremble, and he himself is not 
without his own fears, as appears by his not eating or 
drinking anything but what passes through his niece's 
hands. 

I am assured by a gentleman, who was at the palace 
this morning, that the King has sent to the Conde de 
Oropesa not to come to Court hereafter, without demand- 
ing audience like other people, whereas he had before a 
master-key, which opened all doors, which gave him 
entrance to the King at all hours. 

There is a new commission gone hence to Seville, to 
visit the books and warehouses of all merchants what- 
ever, natives or foreigners. Upon the complaint of ours 
to me, I have presented a memorial in their behalf, 
grounded upon our articles of peace, with several ex- 
amples of remedies granted when we have been attacked 
in like manner formerly. This was last week, and, 
according to the grave motions of this Court, I may- 
expect an answer three months hence, or after the gal- 
leons are arrived ; for there, I believe, lies the mystery 

* I presume he means convents. 
' B 3 



10 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, October 22, 1690. 

Last Friday I presented his Majesty's letter to the 
King and Queen-mother ; the answer, being always the 
same, I need not repeat. I omitted not to turn the 
Parliament's liberality into 20,000,000 of pieces of 
eight, which seems to the Spaniards a sum incredible, 
and has mightily raised the reputation of our King and 
country in their opinion ; which I find as well by the 
discourse of others, as the dispatch of some memorials, 
to which I could get no answer before, in our mer- 
chants' affairs. 

I received the good news of the reduction of Cork 
and Kinsale, with the votes of Parliament, the eve of 
his Majesty's birthday; to spread which about with the 
more eclat and noise, the next night I made illumina- 
tions, had the King's trumpets and kettle- drums, and 
treated all that passed with wine in the streets, where I 
saw that the Spaniards are not so sober a people as we 
believe, when they may be otherwise at another's cost. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, December 6, 1690. 

The President of Castille last week sent down to all 
the ports an order of the council to the several judges 
de SacaSy to cease all farther molesting the English, by 
visiting their houses or demanding to see their books, 
as their late commissions authorised them to do. 

The Flota arrived at Cadiz the 19th of last month ; 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



11 



the whole is computed 18,000,000 of pieces of eight,* 
whereof little will come into the King's coffers, by reason 
of the great assignments given here beforehand, to be 
paid in the Indies, which they say were all complied 
with there by the Viceroy, notwithstanding the private 
orders sent hence to the contrary. The want of money 
here is very great, and rather like to grow worse than 
mend ; so that little assistance of that kind is to be 
expected from hence by the confederates. 

The Marocco ambassador landed at Cadiz the 23rd 
past, was received on the water- side by the governor, 
and saluted with thirty pieces of cannon. He lodged 
there only that night, and went next day to Port 
St. Mary's. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, January 10, 1691. 

Our Marocco ambassador is at last fallen to an 
envoy. I saw him go to audience^ where was an extra- 
ordinary concourse of people to see him, for the rarity 
of the thing, and the oddness of the dress, as little 
known here as with us. His business is only to treat 
about the redemption of the prisoners taken at Larache. 
It is adjusted he is to have ten Moors a-piece for a 
hundred officers, and the common men to be exchanged 
man for man. 

* The value of a piece of eight usually fluctuated between 4s. 2d. and 
4s. 4d. of our coin ("British Merchant," vol. iii. p. 109, ed. 1721). 



12 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, March 7, 1691. 

Of the discourteous usage towards their Majesties' 
squadron at Cadiz, as I received the particulars succes- 
sively from Colonel Aymier, the Consul, and the Captains 
concerned, I have made complaints here by repeated 
memorials, without any success hitherto. This is a 
proceeding very unsuitable to the present obligations 
they owe our King, whom they do not disown at this 
tune to be their protector. I have made instances here 
for above three months past in behalf of our merchants 
of Malaga, who, after they had brought great quantities 
of fruit and wines according to the prices set as usual 
by the government of the town, and the King's duties 
pro rata, yet the officers of the custom-house refused to 
let them ship off the said commodities without paying 
greater customs, only upon pretence that the magistrates 
had set the prices too low \ which, if not speedily reme- 
died, will be the loss of all their returns of this year. 
I cannot yet obtain the liberty of five Englishmen in 
the Spanish galleys, though I have solicited it ever since 
I came. 

The Marques de Leganez goes next week to his 
government of Milan ; he has bills for 300,000 crowns, 
and promises of 50,000 crowns a month for eight 
months. I intend to take the opportunity to send my 
son over with him, and that from thence he shall pass 
into Piedmont to serve this campaign. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



13 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid) March 21, 1691. 

The poor envoy of Savoy entertained me yesterday, 
two hours, with the lamentable state of his master's 
affairs, that the Spaniards have not above 3000 men in 
Milan, and that his master has not money to pay those 
he has already. He is in desperation to see the supine- 
ness and impotence of the Spaniards, who, to save their 
Duchy of Milan, have with great difficulty consented to 
make one Grillo, a Genoese banker, a Grandee of Spain, 
for which he \pays 300,000 pieces of eight; and the 
adjusting that matter has been the occasion of the 
Marques de Leganez's so long stay, who ought to have 
been gone two months since. 

I received yesterday a letter from the Marques de 
Mancera in answer to the paper I delivered, by his 
Majesty's command, concerning the Flemish proposals 
to this Court, of maintaining 16,000 foot and 8000 
horse, provided they might appoint their own treasurer 
and officers to receive and pay the money. I send your 
Lordship, enclosed, the English copy. I am told the 
same proposition has been made several times in twenty 
years last past, but that the present governors, or such 
as hoped to be so, have always opposed it; and the same 
interest will probably continue to do it. 



14 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, April 11, 1691. 

We are not likely to have any dispute with Spain 
about the command, upon the joining of our fleet ; for, 
after all the noise they have made of their great pre- 
parations, and the Marques de Mancera telling me 
several times they would have two or three-and-twenty 
men-of-war early at sea, I cannot learn, by the best 
inquiries I have made, they have above four in any 
tolerable readiness, and those not half manned either. 
And if they send out their Flota to the Indies, which I 
fear is much pressed by the Court, they will not be able 
to man one ship of war. 

I am much abused here in my letters; for though our 
King is at the whole charge of the packet-boats, yet 
they make me pay for my letters as if they came all the 
way by land. I paid for a packet yesterday, from 
England, three pistoles. I have complained to the 
Secretary of State and others, but find them all very 
shy to meddle in anything that may disoblige the 
Conde de Onate, Correo Mayor. 



JAMES STANHOPE* TO HIS FATHER AT MADRID. 

Alicant, April 27, 1691. 

Sir, 

This is to give you an account of my safe arrival at 
this place the 26th of this month, eight days after 
having left Madrid, between which and Alicant there 

* Afterwards General, and Earl Stanhope, born in 1673. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



15 



is no place worth giving you an account of, except 
Aranjuez, where we arrived next clay after we left you. 
.... We spent all the time we staid at that place in 
walking about the gardens, groves, and walks, which, 
indeed, I wished my mother could have seen at the same 
time I did, it being, I believe, as pleasant a place to 
spend a fortnight or three weeks of spring in as any in 

Europe We made no stay between that and 

Alicant, there being not one good town or good inn in 
all the road; and we went sometimes above forty 
English miles without meeting with so much as one 
house, except a wretched venta, where the Marques 
Clerici and all of us were forced to eat and lie with our 
mules. We arrived at Alicant the next day after the 
Marques de Leganez. The country hereabouts is ex- 
tremely fruitful, and full of orange-trees, vines, fig-trees, 
olives, pomegranates, and palm-trees. As soon as I 
arrived, I went to Mr. Dolman, who was very civil to 
me, but excused my lodging in his house, by reason 
there was a large family and women in it. So he 
carried me to an inn, where I am to pay two pieces of 
eight a- day for my lodging and diet, whether I eat 
there or no. Next day I dined with him and Sir 
Thomas Jeffries, who live together in a very good new 
house, which they built themselves. We had a very 
plentiful dinner, but after the Spanish fashion, there 
appearing no women.* 

The Marques de Clerici's waggons, in which is my 

* This orieDtal exclusion of women is evidently a relic of the Moors in 
Spain, but the reader will be surprised to observe it still lingering two cen- 
turies after their surrender of Granada. 



16 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

trunk and box, are not yet arrived, because the mules 
which were hired for them were pressed for the King's 
use. 

Their houses here are all flat-roofed, and they walk 
on them in the evening and look out upon the sea, 
from whence there generally comes a pleasant breeze. 
This country of Valencia seems to be another nation 
from the parts of Spain I have seen, their language 
being wholly different, and liker Italian much than 
Spanish. They have likewise another sort of coin 
here from that of Castille, and none of the copper 
money used there passes here. Neither do they count 
by reals vellon, but all reals plate, eight and thirty of 
which make a pistole ; for the pieces of eight here are 
worth near ten reals plate, and consequently the 
doblones increase in their value. 

I shall write to you again before I embark; in the 
meantime I desire, Sir, you will present my humble 
duty to my mother, and be pleased to accept of the same 
yourself, from, Sir, your most obedient and dutiful 
son and servant, James Stanhope. 



JAMES STANHOPE TO HIS FATHER AT MADRID. 

Palma (in Majorca), May 5, 1691. 

Sir, 

I arrived here the 3rd inst. and could get but very 
ill accommodations, by reason of the concourse of people 
which are here at this time to assist at the Auto de Fe, 
which began this week ; for, Tuesday last, there were 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 17 

burnt here twenty-seven Jews and heretics, and to- 
morrow I shall see executed above twenty more ; and 
Tuesday next; if I stay here so long, is to be another 
Fiesta, for so they entitle a day dedicated to so execrable 
an act. The greater part of the criminals that are already, 
and will be put to death, were the richest men of the 
island, and owners of the best houses in this city. 

The inhabitants call the town, as well as the island, 
Mallorca, though its true name is Palma. The island, 
they say, is 120 leagues about, very fruitful, but 
abounds chiefly in oil, of which there goes every 
year great quantities into England and Holland. Their 
language here is the same with that of the Catalans, 
who conquered this country. 

The reason of our stay here is to careen the gallies, 
that they may be better able to run away in case of 
necessity ! I go with the Marques Clerici, who is as 
civil to me as I can expect from a wretch who grudges 
himself meat, much more me. So I eat with the 
captain, who entertains also several officers that go to 
Milan. When I go ashore, I constantly go to court to 
the Marques de Leganez, who is extremely civil to me, 
and bid me to-day, in raillery, have a care how I behave 
myself here, lest they put me in the Inquisition ! I 
have nothing more at present, but that I am, Sir, &c. 

James Stanhope.* 

* The address of this letter and of the preceding denotes the Spanish 
ceremonial at that time : 

Al Senor Alexandro Stanhope, 

(Que Dios Guarde Muchos Anos) 

Embiado Ex Tio de Su Magestad Bretanica 
en Madrid. 



18 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, May 22, 1691. 

I beg of your Lordship to recommend to the com- 
missioners of the Post-office the sending some person 
in the place of Mr. Hill, over, to settle the Coruria post 
with the Conde de Onate, which must be so qualified as 
that the said Conde may find his account therein, or 
nothing will be done. For though this be a great 
monarchy, yet it has at present much aristocracy in it, 
where every Grandee is a sort of prince. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, June 13, 1691. 
Here has happened lately a great quarrel between 
the alguazils and the King's guard of archers, occa- 
sioned by an alguaziFs meeting one of the said guard at 
an unseasonable hour, who, refusing to give an account 
of himself, the alguazil struck him in the face, not 
knowing who he was. Next day the archers got in a 
body together, fell upon the alguazils wherever they met 
them in the streets, killed three, and wounded several 
others. This disorder lasted several days ; and honest 
M. de Lira, thinking it a scandal to the government, 
spoke to the King to punish the insolence of the archers. 
The Constable* happening to be present, excused or 
justified them, and gave M. de Lira some hard words he 
could neither digest nor have satisfaction for. 

It is discoursed that the Conde de Oropesa will 

* The Constable of Castille, a high hereditary office. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 19 

declare himself Valido (prime minister), to which he is 
much pressed by the Queen-Mother, but has wisely, 
hitherto, avoided the envy of the name, though he has, 
in fact, the power to do what he pleases. They talk also 
of removing the confessor, who is not so commode as he 
should be. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, June 21, 1691. 

Don Manuel (de Lira's) retirement is much re- 
gretted generally. I am told, this morning, the King- 
has given him a pension of twenty thousand crowns 
a-year, with orders to the Cavallerizo Mayor to furnish 
him with a coach-and-six out of the King's stables 
whenever he shall desire it ; which is intended him as a 
great mark of honour. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, June 27, 1691. 

Yesterday the Conde of Oropesa left Madrid, 
banished by the King's express command, delivered to 
him two days before by Don Eugenio Marban, Secre- 
tario de la Camera. They say it was occasioned in this 
manner : that about a month before, the Duque de 
Aviera or Arcos, in the name of most of the Grandees, 
represented to the King the calamitous estate of the 
monarchy in a long memorial, insinuating that all was 
occasioned by the mal-administration of the Conde of 
Oropesa, to which some speedy and effectual remedy 



20 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 



ought to be applied. The King, as his custom is, gave 
the paper to the Conde, who thereupon excused and 
justified himself by another paper to the King; after 
which, the matter remaining quiet for some time, the 
Duke returned to repeat his instances by word of 
mouth, insisting that the Conde might be removed from 
meddling any more in the direction of affairs, and that 
if his Majesty did not apply the remedy, the kingdom 
must take care for its own preservation ; which resolute 
behaviour so startled the King, that after he had advised 
with the Queen-Mother, who, as is believed, was before- 
hand possessed in the business, he gave a decree for 
banishing the Conde, who, so soon as he had notice of 
it, desired hard to kiss the King's hand, which being 
granted, he desired his Majesty would give him leave to 
retire himself in a garden-house he has here in the 

o 

skirts of Madrid ; but the King denied it, and com- 
manded him to go to his own estate, and he is accord- 
ingly upon his journey towards Oropesa, his own town, 
in Estreniadura. The Queen-Consort would not see him, 
the Queen-Mother at first refused it, but by his impor- 
tunity at last admitted him ; and when he told her that, 
in obedience to the King's command, he was leaving the 
Court, she answered, " ; Tis well, Conde: it ought to 
" have been done long before ! " 

A promotion of new Counsellors of State was declared 
this morning, which are the Duque del Infantado, Duque 
de Mont alto, Conde de Melgar, eldest son of the Admiral 
of Castille, Conde de Aguilar, Marques de Villa Franca,* 

* The Marques of Villa Franca was soon transferred from state affairs to 
a high post in the Royal Household, as better suited to his abilities. He 



SPAIX UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



21 



Marques cle Burgamaine, now ambassador at Vienna, 
and Don Pedro de Ronquillo, now at London. Here is 
also a discourse of inviting the Bishop of Malaga, the 
King's natural brother, to the chief ministry ; but after 
the fall of the cautious Conde de Oropesa, he must be a 
bold man who thinks himself able to bear all the faults 
of this government, which he must do, or sink under 
them. 

We hear nothing of the French in Catalonia, since 
the taking of Urgel, which was an open place ; and 700 
men who pretended to defend the cathedral, were made 
prisoners of war. They say it has opened a large country 
to them for contributions. We fear them in Aragon, 
whither, if they please to come, there is nothing to 
resist. 



TO HIS SOX, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid. July 5, 1691. 

Mr. Freeman left us last Sunday. The same day 
I engaged in his place a Swiss Protestant, a jeweller, 
formerly recommended to me by your friend Raab, who, 
going from me that night to his old lodging, promising 
to return and bring his trunk next morning to stay 

was a most zealous champion of Court etiquette, and a man of solemn 
and portentous aspect. When Louville urges to the French ministers the 
necessity of some recreation and amusement for Philip the Fifth, he 
sarcastically asks whether they think that the constant sight of Villa 
Franca is sufficient for that object ! " Vous vous plaignez de l'ennui du 
a Roi Catholique. Donnez-nous done de quoi l'amuser. Ne voulez-vous 
" pas qu'il se contente pour cela de la vue du Marquis de Villa Franca !" 
— (Lettre a M. de Torcy, le 19 Avril 1701.) 



22 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

for altogether, he not coming at his hour, I sent to see 
what was become of him, and Mr. Champion found the 
officers of the Holy Office registering what little he had, 
and they told him the person he inquired for was 
carried away prisoner, by six that morning, by orders of 
the Inquisition, never, as I suppose, to be heard of more ; 
and everybody tells me I can have no remedy ! 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, August 1, 1691. 

The French fleet in the Mediterranean have, since 
their parting from Barcelona, been before Alicant, which 
they have almost reduced to a heap of ruins with their 
bombs, much the greatest part being destroyed, as the 
Marques de Mancera owned to me yesterday. The 
Spanish fleet under the Conde de Aguilar has joined 
Papachhr's squadron at Malaga, making in all sixteen 
men-of-war and three fire-ships, and are sailed thence 
in search of the French. 

His Majesty is very diligent in affairs — four or five 
hours every day — of which 'tis feared he will soon grow 
weary. The President of Castille and Don Manuel de 
Lira, are the persons said to be behind the curtain, and 
to have promoted this new model of affairs. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, September 5, 1691. 

We are all, at this time, in great disorder here, by 
reason of the Queen's illness, which begun yesterday 
se'nnight, occasioned, as is said, by eating lamb frozen 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 23 

with ice, which gave her a violent colic, and soon after 
she fell into convulsions, which drew her mouth almost 
to one ear, and took away her senses, so that she was 
several times believed and reported dead. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, September 12, 1691. 
I received, this day, a letter from the Marques de 
Mancera in answer to a memorial I gave in about a 
month ago, in behalf of our merchants in Alicant and 
the kingdom of Valencia, that upon the general seizure 
of all Frenchmen's effects in these parts since the 
bombing of Alicant, all just debts due from them 
to any of our nation, should be satisfied out of the said 
effects seized. To this the answer was in general terms, 
that the King would take convenient care in that matter. 
What that care will be, time must show. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, October 11, 1691. 
We had here last night a Mascara on horseback, 
where many of the Grandees ran before the palace in 
very glorious tinsel equipages, for joy at the King 
and Queen's recovery; just such another business as 
you saw at the Coruna. We had also luminaries all 
over the town. 



24 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, October 21, 1691. 

Your Lordship's letter contains a complaint of the 
Spanish ambassador at the Hague, to my Lord Dursley, 
against the Captain of the Leopard for protecting and 
countenancing the French trade, with her Majesty's 
commands to me to inquire and inform myself, as far as 
possibly I can, what occasion the Captain has given for 
it ; and if he shall appear to have given just ground to 
suspect him of this abuse, that I do not give him, in 
such a practice, any assistance or countenance he might 
otherwise expect as their Majesties' officer. In obedience 
to which I will make the best inquiries I can ; but it will 
be a very hard matter to discover, since all the inquiries 
I can make must be among the merchants, who, if he 
be faulty, are probably in the confederacy with him; and 
that w-ill be according to the proverb, " Ask my partner 
" whether I am a thief ! " 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, October 31, 1691. 

The 23d instant, Mr. Greenwood, my chaplain, died 
of a dysentery, when I, not knowing how to dispose of 
his body, there being no place assigned for .burying his 
Majesty's subjects, as by our articles of peace there 
ought to be, and desirous to proceed with the greatest 
caution possible, not to give offence, and to avoid any 
disturbance that might happen among a people that 
have such an abhorrence to our religion, upon the burial 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



25 



of one of our ministers, thought I could not apply 
myself more properly for protection against the rabble 
than to the Corregidor de Madrid, who at present is 
brother to Don Pedro de Ronquillo. So I sent him a 
message acquainting him with what had happened, and 
desiring the favour of him to appoint some place in the 
fields, in some piece of ground belonging to the town, 
where we might lay the body to rest in quiet, and that 
he would please to appoint some officer to be present at 
the interment, to prevent any mischief which might 
happen, or that my servants who assisted might not be 
taken as murderers, burying somebody they had assassi- 
nated in private. The Corregidor received the applica- 
tion with great civility, said he could do nothing in it 
without the approbation of the President of Castille, and 
offered himself to accompany my agent immediately to 
him. So they went together to the President, and 
after the President and Corregidor had discoursed some- 
time alone, the Corregidor came out to my agent, telling 
him the President had ordered an alguazil should go 
along with him, and they two choose any place in the 
fields near the town they should judge proper for the 
occasion, and that the alguazil should be ready to attend 
at the place, at the time appointed, the same evening ; 
all which was accordingly done, and I sent the body out 
in my coach between seven and eight at night, with 
half a dozen of my servants ; and the alguazil meeting 
them as was appointed, they laid the body in the grave, 
and so departed. I hoped he might have rested in 
quiet till the resurrection, but next day about five in 
the afternoon I found I was mistaken, when word was 

c 



26 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

brought me it was taken up by an Alcalde, and carried 
to the Carcel de Corte, the coffin broke open, his shroud 
torn off, the body exposed to public view, and a consult 
of surgeons sat upon him, on pretence it was some 
person murdered. I sent my secretary immediately to 
the President of Castille, who being then in a Junta of 
Council, could not be spoken with, but the complaint 
being sent in to him, he only ordered that the body 
should be restored to my secretary, whereas he might 
have considered I was in the same difficulties how to 
proceed as at first, and that a body, after having been 
buried a day and a night, and taken up again, will not 
admit of the Spanish phlegm in resolving what is to be 
done with it. To conclude, the body was again brought 
to my house, and I forced immediately to bury it in my 
cellar. They had cut and mangled it in several parts, 
and some not decent to be named, and tore off most of 
the hair of his head. This happened on Thursday last, 
and is the general entertainment of all companies in 
town j yet, to this hour, I have not had any message 
either from the President or the Alcalde, who acted the 
barbarity, to excuse it, so that I could no longer 
dissemble so sensible an affront, believing their Ma- 
jesties' honour highly concerned therein, as well as the 
law of nations and humanity itself notoriously violated. 
I send your Lordship a copy of the memorial which I 
delivered on Monday to the Marques de Mancera. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



27 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, November 8, 1691. 
Madrid is still the same dull place, where, though I 
do remain for your sakes, yet I hope you will pass the 
winter more pleasantly, to recompense you for the 
fatigues of the summer. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, November 21, 1691. 

The 18th, I received from the Marques de Man- 
cera an answer to my memorial, of which I herewith 
send your Lordship a copy. It contains so ample satisfac- 
tion, that I think nothing more can be desired. I am told 

it was carried unanimously in the Council The 

Alcalde is not yet removed out of town, but will go in a 
day or two, after which, not to be behind-hand with 
them in point of generosity, I think it will look well 
here that I intercede with this King for his return to 
Madrid, and restoration to his office, which I intend so 
soon as he is gone. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, December 5, 1691. 
Three or four days ago came out a pracmatica, for 
reforming excesses in apparel, coaches, mournings, &e., 
which makes great noise at present, but they say is 
likely to be forgotten in a month, as all others have 
been in less. 

c 2 



28 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, January 9, 1692. 

The poor Alcalde is, by my intercession for him, 
returned to Court, and to the exercise of his office ; but 
the chagrin for his disgrace has struck him with a dead 
palsy, which is like to cost him his life. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, January 23, 1692. 

They write me from Cadiz that the King has got 
from the Commerce 800,000 crowns more above the 
4,000,000 which had been fixed as the indulto for the 
galleons ; but it is not yet agreed on what effects it shall 
be levied, whether on French and Genoese only, or all 
other nations fro rata. It occasions great murmurings, 
and will much discredit the only public faith that has 
hitherto remained inviolate in Spain, and possibly open 
a trade to the rest of the world to then Indies, which 
they may be forced to admit if they have not credit at 
home to supply their people there with necessaries. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, February 14, 1692. 

We have had as bad a winter as ever I have seen in 

England for rain, snow, and cold I desire 

you to give my most humble sendee to M. Polcy, whom 
I forbear to trouble because here is nothing worth his 
knowledge. You know Madrid : 'tis still the same dull 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



29 



place as ever. This day has been very unkind to the 
Emperor's ambassador, who made his entry very splendid 
on horseback, but with the misfortune of a pouring rain 
all the time. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, February 20, 1692. 

The Elector of Brandenburg has a gentleman here to 
solicit arrears he pretends, but is not like to get a 
shilling; for, notwithstanding the noise the galleons 
have made in the world of so many millions, the distress 
the public is in at this very time is hardly to be believed, 
great industry and artifices being employed to borrow 
very inconsiderable sums, and most commonly in vain. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, March 19, 1692. 

Sir Ralph Delaval sailed away from Cadiz on the 
2nd instant, without the 500,000 crowns for the Duke of 
Bavaria, in Flanders. The pretence was, the officer 
appointed could not find so much in bars, which was 
only a pretence, for upon a repeated order from Court, 
which arrived there some hours after the fleet was sailed, 
and out of sight, they sent a tartan to try to overtake 
them, but could not. This defect is supposed to be a 
design of some great men here, who understand the 
trade of bargaining, to get forty thousand crowns by the 
return of the money : and, accordingly, I am assured 
that this night there will be sent bills for Amsterdam 
and Antwerp by the Marques de Tamarit, one of the 



30 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



Consejo de la Hazienda* whose name, they say, is only 
used by the Marques de Los Balbazes. 

A great meeting has lately happened at Bilbao, the 
people rising in arms against the Juez de Contrabanda, 
sent them down by the King, insisting on their privilege, 
that the Corregidor and Juez de Contrabanda ousht to 
be the same person, proclaiming the person sent down a 
traitor, with sound of drains and trumpets, who was 
forced to shift away to save his life. The Corregidor 
refused to act as Juez de Contrabanda, and this happening 
at a time when ours and the Dutch convoy were newly 
arnved, a total stop was put to the unlading of the 
ships, which" the merchants representing to me as a 
great prejudice to their trade, and which would probably 
hinder them from being ready to load back by the 
same convoy, I gave in a memorial to desire the matter 
might be settled some way or other, that the merchants 
might not suffer so great an inconveniency ; to which, 
this day, the Marques de Maneera answered me m 
writings the King had appointed a new person to go 
down immediately, and exercise the office both of Corre- 
gidor and Juez de Contrabanda to all their satisfaction. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, April 2, 1692. 

I am very unhappy in the present Secretary of State 
for the north, Don Crispin Botello, through whose hands 
all my papers must pass ; he is above fourscore years 
old, and has quite outlived his memory, insomuch that 
after I have sometimes expected an answer to a business 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 31 

three months, I have afterwards learnt that it was 
forgot to be delivered ; and when I have minded him of 
it again, he did not remember to have heard of it before. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM . 

Madrid, April ]6, 1692. 

The Biscayners have absolutely refused to receive the 
person that was sent to them from Valladolid to be 
Corregidor and Juez de Contrabanda, pro interim, alleg- 
ing it is contrary to their privileges. In the meantime 
our merchants suffer extremely for want of some person 
to dispatch their goods ; they have sent up an express 
to me of the great prejudice they suffer by these delays, 
and I have this day represented the same by a memorial. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, April 30, 1692. 

I have no answer to any of my memorials, which is 
not my case alone, but the general complaint of all 
ministers here, not that of his Holiness or the Emperor 
excepted ; nor is it likely to be better till we see some 
Premier Minister, of which there is at present very little 
appearance. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, May 9, 1692. 

I cannot omit to acquaint your Lordship with a 
discourse I had three days ago with the envoy of the 
Duke of Lorraine here, who is a Milanese and a 



32 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

churchman. We were talking of the present state of 
affairs in Flanders, and the little care this Court seems 
to have for its preservation, giving out publicly that the 
Dutch and we are more concerned in its defence than 
they. Upon which he told me they were so weary of the 
charge, that there has lately been held a consult about 
delivering it up to the Dutch, to which there appeared 
a great inclination, but no resolution was taken till they 
had first advised with the divines, being a matter of 
conscience as well as state. The divines being consulted, 
were unanimously against it, as being unlawful to 
deliver up so many good Catholics to the absolute will 
and pleasure of an heretical government. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, July 11, 1692. 

This Court seems at present much alarmed by the 
appearance of the French galleys and men-of-war upon 
the coast of Catalonia, where they say they have twenty 
galleys and ten men-of-war; and that M. de JNoailles is 
inarching at the same time to besiege Rosas by land, in 
which fright they begin now to cry out to us for help, 
whom, lately, before they apprehended themselves in 
danger, they treated so barbarously at Cadiz, as I sup- 
pose your Lordship has, before this, heard from the 
relation of Colonel Aylmer. Yesterday the Marques 
de Mancera writ to me, by the King's order, to acquaint 
me with the news, and to make it the concern of the 
common cause of the confederates against the common 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 33 

enemy, desiring me that I would immediately send 
orders to all our men-of-war in the Mediterranean to 
join their fleet, and assist them in this exigency; to 
which purpose expresses should be ready at the Secre- 
tary of State's office to carry my letters to any port I 
would write. I could not but smile at the message, to 
see them so sensible when the danger threatens their 
own Spain, who have been hitherto so philosophically 
unconcerned for the sufferings of their neighbours. 
The answer was very natural, which I also sent his 
Excellency in writing — -that I knew not of any ships of 
war we had now in those seas, the reason of which I 
conceived to be the unkind usage they had found from 
the governor of Cadiz, who not only refused them 
pratick on shore, upon pretence of then 1 coming from 
infected parts, but very im willingly, after several days'" 
waiting, and at last very sparingly, furnished them with 
the necessary provisions of life, though he knew suffi- 
ciently the great wants they then lay under. This. I 
said, I thought was the reason that made them all 
return home ; however, I would not fail to acquaint his 
Majesty with the message sent me, who, I doubted not, 
but as a faithful ally of his Catholic Majesty, would, to 
the utmost, procure all things to his satisfaction. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, July 30, 1692. 

The misfortune of the loss of Namur has damped 
this Court more than anything I have observed, and 
occasions great mm'murings, not without some reflections 

c 3 



34 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



on us. The general discourse is now of a speedy peace, 
not only among the common sort, but several of the 
foreign ministers have entertained me with it. The 
news has had a most sensible effect on the Madridians, 
by depriving them of their long-expected ball-feast ; for 
two days after it came, all the scaffolds in the Plaza 
Mayor were ordered to be taken down. 

This morning died here Signor Mosti, the Pope's 
nuncio, after a long chagrin by the disappointment of a 
Cardinal's cap, of which he had no hopes since the 
exaltation of his present Holiness. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, August 13, 1692. 

The Bishop of Malaga, the King's natural brother, 
died about ten days ago at Malaga, — a person much 
lamented by all, and especially by our nation there, to 
whom he was very civil and obliging. The Queen seems 
well recovered, and is often abroad. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, August 27, 1692. 

The motions of this Court still keep the same slow 
pace, but here is a discourse of a Junta of four Council- 
lors of State, who are to dispatch all affairs, as the Valido 
used to do. If the design goes on, I hope matters will 
not depend so long as they have done ; but there is 
another Junta actually settled, consisting of the Almi- 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



35 



rante,* the Duke of Montalto, the President of Castille, 
two Councillors of the Council of Castille, the President 
de Hazienda, two Councillors, and the two secretaries of 
the said Council de Hazienda, and the Corregidor de 
Madrid, who is brother to Don Pedro de Ronquillo, 
together with the King's confessor, and a famous Do- 
minican friar of theology, to advise in matters of con- 
science. The pretence of their institution, they give 
out, is para hallar medios, as they term it — to find out 
means for the subsistence of the government : they have 
met already thrice. What is given commonly out, is 
the obtaining the Pope's leave to employ the revenue 
of the Cruzada (which, as the Pope at first gave the 
King against infidels, so has kept it appropriated ever 
since) in the present war against France. But this 
finds little credit, especially considering the no very 
good understanding, at this time, between this Court 
and that of Rome. I wish it be not something wherein 
our alliance may be concerned, for which their theolo- 
gians are very proper instruments. What increases my 
suspicion is, that, in the Madrid Gazette this week, 
they have printed that the King of Denmark has sent 
M. Guldenlaw to France, and M. Plepe to the confede- 
rate army, with proposals of peace, upon terms to which, 
he says, the French King has already consented. I will 
get what light I can, but it is a hard matter for a 
heretic to learn any truth among them, when they think 
the cause of their religion concerned. 

* The " Admiral of Castille" was an hereditary office, or rather title. 



36 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, September 10, 1692. 

Besides the ordinary delays in this Court, I have the 
hard fortune that the -Marques de Mancera, who, as my 
commissioner, receives and should recommend my me- 
morials to the Council, comes very seldom there ; so that 
all I can say in discourse, to enforce my business, is 
lost. He is Mayor-domo Mayor to the Queen-Mother, 
and continually either attending her person or affairs, 
which is a great hindrance to me in all I have to do. 

Our new Junta has done nothing more since the 
stopping of all mercedes, or pensions, which are very 
considerable, but are upon a great many other projects 
to raise money ; and it now appears that was the only 
design of the institution. 

The ship from the Havana brings news of the death 
of the famous Valenzuela,* who was killed by the kick 

* Don Fernando de Valenzuela was an hidalgo of Grenada, and began 
life as page to the Duke de Infantado. After the death of the Duke, he 
obtained a scanty subsistence, at Madrid, as a poet and dramatic author ; 
but his marriage with Donna Eugenia, a lady in the household of the 
Queen-Regent, attracted her Majesty's notice. His youth, his handsome 
person, and lively insinuating temper, soon recommended him to her especial 
favour, and he rose, by rapid steps, to the highest employments. Finally, 
he was declared Prime Minister. His imprudent vanity, however, offended 
the pride, as his sudden elevation roused the jealousy, of his countrymen. 
His usual device on public festivals was an eagle gazing at the sun, with 
the significant motto, Tengo solo Hcencia. When, in January 1677, the 
young King escaped from his mother's palace, and asserted his sovereign 
authority, the resentment of the people and of the new administration was 
turned chiefly against Valenzuela. He took refuge in the monastic palace 
of the Escurial, where he remained securely concealed behind a panel of 
the wainscot, though the monastery was several times searched by the 
Royal officers ; but the closeness of this confinement having affected his 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



37 



of a horse in Mexico, upon which the Queen-Mother, 
who would never, since his banishment, name another 
Master of her Horse, now declares she will do it. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, October 22, 1692. 

I had often solicited the Marques de Mancera for 
his Catholic Majesty's letter to the governor of His- 
paniola, before I received your last commands, as I have 
done twice since, of which I see no effect. The King, 
indeed, is at the Escurial, which may delay it for the 
present ; but why it was not done in six weeks before, 
I cannot understand, unless it be to maintain an 
uniformity in all their proceedings, and to do nothing 
that is for their own advantage. 

The Marques de la Puebla, with the King's coaches, 
an Alcalde de Corte, with four alguazils, go to-morrow, 
by order, from this court to meet and receive our Queen- 
Dowager* on the frontiers. She comes not hither, but 
passes from St. Sebastian by Burgos, Yalladolid, Sala- 
manca, and so to Portugal, orders being also sent to 
all places to pay her all possible honours as she passes. 
Her retinue, they say, consists of 130 persons. 

health, he summoned the surgeon of the monks to blood him, under the 
most solemn obligations to secrecy. The surgeon nevertheless betrayed 
him, and the fallen minister was discovered and arrested when asleep, with 
his loaded pistols and a sword by his side. He was banished to the 
Philippine Islands, where his confinement, at first rigorous, was gradually 
mitigated, and he was allowed to amuse himself by representations of his 
own plays. In 1689 he was, as a further favour, permitted to remove to 
Mexico, and to receive a yearly pension. 

* Catherine of Braganza, widow of our King Charles the Second. 



38 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



Our new Junta, which raised so great expectations at 
first, is now almost grown a jest, especially since, at the 
same time they took away all pensions from poor widows 
and orphans, the Duke of Ossuna, one of the richest 
men in Spain, procured himself one of 6000 crowns a 
year for life, and that by the intercession of the con- 
fessor, who is a member of the Junta. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, December 3, 1692. 

Our Queen-Dowager was to be, the 1st instant, at 
Salamanca. She doth not admit to be defrayed, but 
pays for everything. She has appointed one of her 
gentlemen, Mr. Sandys, to come and compliment this 
Court, who, after, is to go to Lisbon, where he has, as I 
am informed by a very good hand, a private character 
of envoy from King James. If he visit me, I shall 
return him all civilities, as long as he owns nothing 
further than his business hither from the Queen ; but, 
believing this intimation may be of use to Mr. Methuen, 
their Majesties' envoy in Portugal, I intend to acquaint 
him what I have heard the first opportunity. 

The projects of the new Junta have produced little or 
nothing. The President, they say, is now hot upon a 
design of calling in all the coin, both gold and silver, to 
be new marked and raised in value a fourth part, by 
which the King will get 20 per cent, upon all the money 
in Spain. This is yet but discourse, yet not without 
examples, and likely enough to be resolved by a people 
who take all the ways they can invent to ruin themselves. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 39 

Since the birth of the young Prince of Bavaria, which 
was celebrated here with luminaries all over the town, 
three nights successively, by order from Court, there is 
a new ferment, which seems very strong at present, of 
settling the succession of the Crown by some public 
declaration ; but the difficulties are like to be so great 
from the several members of which the monarchy is 
composed, that it is believed impracticable. 

The general of the Dominicans, being a Frenchman, 
had for some time solicited leave to come and make his 
visitations in Spain; but the Emperor's ambassador, 
suspecting he would bring some other commission, 
opposed it, and prevailed to have him denied ; notwith- 
standing which, he ventured to come in company of our 
Queen-Dowager as far as St. Sebastian, from whence he 
repeated his instances hither, though in vain; for orders 
were sent him to return back immediately. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, December 17, 1692. 

Since my last, I have received two letters from the 
Marques de Mancera, the copies of which, Englished, 
I send your Lordship. Though I have very frequently 
solicited those two points, yet I could not procure an 
answer sooner, which is the less strange, since they 
manage all their own affairs with the same phlegm, 
seldom resolving anything till the occasion be past. . . . 
I am myself much discouraged by the little success I 
meet in most of my pretensions here for his Majesty's 
service ; yet I cannot but remember, with great comfort, 
his Majesty's expressions to me, when I had the honour 



40 



SPAIN 



UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



to kiss his hands at my coining away : that I must arm 
myself with great patience, in bearing the slow motions 
I should meet with at this Court ; which makes me hope 
his Majesty will make the more gracious and benign 
interpretation of my actions. 

Two days ago, to the great surprise of the whole 
Court, was declared a new President of Castille, namely, 
Don Manuel Arias, ambassador of Malta, but a natural 
Spaniard, and of an ancient family in Castille. He 
enters his office this day, and I am well acquainted with 
him, we having exchanged several visits ; but that is an 
honour I must expect no more ; for a President of 
Castille visits nobody, nor gives the hand to any in his 
own house. He has the reputation of a very cunning 
man ; what I can say is, he seems very well versed in 
the affairs of the world, and an extremely civil and well- 
bred gentleman. 

Here is a hot rumour of a Valido to be suddenly 
declared, though they do not agree in the person. 
Some say the Conde de Monterey, others the Duke of 
Montalto, but of this nothing is certain. I heartily 
wish it were done, for then I should know who to apply 
to, whereas, nobody pretends to do anything, and so 
nothing is done. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, December 19, 1692. 
I have not as yet had an opportunity to deliver his 
Majesty's letter which I received from your Lordship the 
11th instant, to this King, whose devotions and hunting 



SPAIX UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 41 

could allow no leisure for an audience since ; but this 
morning the conductor gave me the hour of ten for 
to-morrow. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, December 31, 1692. 
The difference still continues between this Court and 
Ronie, the Pope refusing to send a new nuncio till the 
Patriarch of the Indies,, whom he nominated ad interim, 
be first admitted, and here they refuse to admit him till 
their ambassador have satisfaction at Ronie, in which 
point His Holiness continues very stiff. This is here 
the last day of the old year, and I conclude it bv wish- 
ing your Lordship a happy new one, or rather, according 
to the Spanish expression, a thousand ! * 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, January, 1693. 

I received, in twelve days, the welcome news of the 
votes of the House of Commons, concerning the supplies 
to his Majesty for the carrying on the war this present 
year; and having, the same afternoon, an horn* of 
audience appointed by the King, to make him the cus- 
tomary compliment of the day, I thought it not impro- 

* " May you live a thousand years ! 99 — a common greeting among the 
Spaniards. But in the case of Majesty the compliment is sometimes 
extended to a thousand centuries. — El Rey que mil siglos viva — says 
Calderon of Philip IV. in his Guardate de la Agua Mansa. 



42 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



per to acquaint him with it ; so turning the sum into 
Spanish money, I told him the Parliament had given 
our King 26,000,000 pieces of eight, which I believed 
his Majesty would be well pleased to hear, since it was 
all designed to be employed against his enemies. To 
this, after a little pause, he answered me, Bienpuede ser* 
and to my compliment on the occasion of the day, I had 
as usual, Asi lo creo.f I find that generally they will 
not believe it possible, in which they seem to have 
reason, since they are able to do so little for their King. 
The present exigencies of this monarchy are inconceiv- 
able, most of the bills they have sent for Flanders lately 
being sent back protested. Last week the King laid his 
hand on all the effects of the famous Genoese banker, 
Grillo, appointing him an inter ventor, as they call him, 
without whose intervention and consent he is not to pay 
the least sum to any person on whatsoever account. 
The pretence is great arrears clue to the King, upon the 
revenue of the Cruzada of which he was farmer. In this 
manner they have broke and ruined several eminent 
merchants and bankers : the Marques de Tamarit is the 
only one remaining, and it is expected that he will ere 
long have the same fate. I am assured by a person 
allowed to understand the public revenue as well as any 
man, that upon no branch of it can be found a credit 
for 100,000 crowns, be the occasion ever so urgent. 

7-7 C 

The Marques de Mancera has in a letter desired me to 
write to the commandant of our squadron expected in 
the Mediterranean, to desire him to send two men-of- 
war, to secure and convoy a pink they have freighted in 

* I dare say. t I believe it. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



43 



Holland with naval stores, as far as Naples, for the use 
of their armada now there. I answered, it was a mat- 
ter I had nothing to do with ; that our sea-commanders 
had their orders and instructions from the Admiralty, 
from which they could not vary upon any recommenda- 
tion whatever, but that if he pleased, I would acquaint 
the commander-in-chief with the desires of his Catholic- 
Majesty, that he might comply therewith, so far as 
consisted with his orders. They expect all from us, and 
are very slow in making any returns. 

In my last, I told your Lordship what they had 
answered me, as to our importing cacao, since which 
they have invaded another of our rights, namely that of 
having a Jnez conservador, in all parts of our own 
choosing, to decide and determine all cases we may be 
concerned in, civil or criminal, either as plaintiffs or 
defendants, without any exception or limitation what- 
ever ; whereas now by a letter I had last week from the 
Marques de Mancera, they deny it us in all cases 
relating to the King's revenue. This I am preparing 
to reply to. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, February 11, 1693. 

Here is lately made a new regulation in order to the 
more exact payment of the duties on all sorts of com- 
modities at their entrance into Madrid, wherein it is 
pretended great frauds have been committed, and that 
no foreign ministers may, by their coaches or servants, 
countenance the same, as I believe several have very 



44 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



grossly done. Yesterday the new horse-guards, sent for 
on purpose from Catalonia, took possession of all the 
gates of Madrid, and the posts in all the villages two 
leagues round. 



TO THE MARQUES DE MAXCERA. 
[Translation.] 

Madrid. February 28, 1693. 

My Lord. 

As soon as your Excellency communicated to me, by 
your letter of the 3rd of this month, the orders his 
Catholic Majesty had given for the prevention of frauds 
and abuses committed to the prejudice of the Royal reve- 
nue, and that no person pretend exemption from paying 
duties, nor countenance the defrauding, I gave strict 
command to my whole family punctually to observe 
them, though I am fully certain none of them have been 
guilty of this crime, having, from my first entrance into 
this Court, severely enjoined the contrary. This being 
supposed, which your Excellency may be fully satisfied 
of without the least doubt or scruple, I cannot omit 
acquainting your Excellency how my wife, going yester- 
day, being Sunday, into the country to take the air, in 
the company of my son, a little boy often years old, and 
two maids, came to a village called Alameda, whither 
she used often to go for her diversion, and rinding it 
convenient to stay all night in the village, as she did, 
being something indisposed and with child, sent the 
coach back to Madrid with the little boy and the maid, 
and at their going out of the village three soldiers 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 45 

stopped it, who called themselves guardas de las rentas, 
to register it, and though they were told it was my 
coach, and that my son was in it, they had so little 
respect as not only to search it, but to pull the little 
boy from his seat, and behaving themselves towards him 
insolently and rudely, though they found nothing liable 
to register in it. Now, because this action is not only 
strange and unheard of, but contrary to the law of 
nations, which is formally violated in such a public dis- 
respect, whereas the coach or coaches in which either I 
am in, or my wife, or my sons, ought to be considered 
with the same prerogative, immunity, and respect, as 
what the houses in which I live may, by virtue of that 
sacredness which is inviolably observed to all ministers 
of crowned heads : — I beseech your Excellency to lay 
before his Majesty what has happened, that he may be 
pleased to command those three soldiers, whose names it 
will be easy to know in Alameda, be sent for, and that 
public reparation may be made me for this insult, and 
they punished as they deserve. 

Alexander Stanhope. 



REPLY OF THE MARQUES DE MANCERA. 
[Translation,] 

Buen Re tiro, March 9, 1693. 

In view of the memorial of your Senoria upon the 
registering of your coach by some guard soldiers at its 
coming out of Alameda, your young son being in it, the 
King, my master, has been pleased to order me, having 
seen the officio of the 28th of February last past, to 
answer your Senoria as I do — That as to the resolution 



46 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



taken for the better recovery of the Royal revenue and 
preventing frauds, it was duly weighed and considered, 
upon which followed the communication of it to your 
Sehoria as to other foreign ministers, and his Majesty's 
commands to his abroad to conform to the same law in 
their respective residences, upon which his Majesty at 
present thinks not fit to alter it. And finding that 
because the Marques del Fresno, being his Majesty's 
ambassador extraordinary in England, the year 1673, 
trimmed his coach with studs of iron about the top, 
which served as a valance for the garnitures upon black 
cloth, on an occasion of mourning so strict as the death 
of the Empress Margaret, daughter of King Philip the 
Fourth, and sister to his Majesty, he had intimation 
given him, by the Master of the Ceremonies from the 
King, to take it off, though there was neither pracmatica 
nor custom against it, as the Marques alleged in his 
complaint to my Lord Arlington, which forbid the sort 
of garniture. So that having thus obliged our ambas- 
sador, only by virtue of a forgotten, or misunderstood, 
ceremony, to the mortification of laying aside a coach, 
in which he had appeared often at Court, though upon 
an occasion so indispensable, it makes it the more 
strange that your Senoria should formalise in a case 
where formalities of ceremonies are not in question, but 
the importance of securing and preventing the many 
and prejudicial frauds in the recovery of the revenue of 
his Majesty, which care and consideration, his Majesty 
commands me to signify to your senoria, whom may 
God preserve many years, as I desire. 

I kiss the hand of your Senoria. 

Marques de Mancera. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



47 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, March 11, 1693. 
I have had a long conference with the Marques de 
Mancera about the affair of my coach, wherein I highly 
aggravated the nature of the insult, and that the world 
would wonder, that to make the first experiment of so 
extraordinary an innovation, they should choose to 
execute it on the minister of a prince the most consider- 
able of all then allies, and in this conjuncture the 
greatest support of then monarchy, for the preservation 
of which he was daily exposing his person, and employ- 
ing all the power of his kingdoms : to this he answered, 
the same had since been done to the Emperor's ambas- 
sador's coach j but when I asked when and where ? he 
could not satisfy me, and upon inquiry since, I cannot 
find there has been any such thing, so that he said it 

only to serve a present turn M. de 

Schonenberg * continues my zealous solicitor ; he was 
with me this afternoon, and tells me my letter was 
debated in council yesterday, that it goes up to the King 
to-day, and that my warm discourse with the Marques 
de Mancera, which he did me the justice, to repeat ver- 
batim in council, has had a very good effect among them, 
and is much applauded by all the foreign ministers, who 
have had the account of it froni the councillors of state, 
so that I hope the matter may end well. The Venetian 
ambassador had an encounter the first of this month 
with the Concle de Anover, son to the Duque de Arcos, 
captain of the Castillian guard ; who, being a young 

* The minister of Holland. 



48 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

spark, and courting one of the ladies of the palace, in a 
procession the King and Court yearly make that day to 
a chapel called Del Angel, made his coach interpose 
between the King's coaches and the ambassador's ; the 
coachmen began the quarrel, then the footmen, and 
lastly the gentlemen alighted, all except the ambassador; 
two of the Conde's mules w r ere killed, two of his servants 
wounded, and he himself forced to save himself by run- 
ning, though in presence of his mistress. Upon the 
ambassador's complaint the King has ordered the Conde 
to be banished, till the ambassador intercedes for him. 



TO MR. WARRE, UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE. 

Madrid, March 29, 1693. 

Since the answer to my complaint for searching my 
coach, I have heard nothing further of that matter, 
neither I believe shall I, till they know from England 
how his Majesty does resent it. The influence it has 
here on all the public ministers is, that none of them, 
ambassadors nor envoys, have dared to stir out of the 
walls of the town since what befell my coach, and are 
like to continue in the same confinement, till they see 
what resolution will be taken as to my satisfaction. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, May 20, 1693. 

I received, the 15th instant, the welcome favour of 
your Lordship's of the 11th of April, wherein I find, 
with infinite joy, that his Majesty has graciously 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



49 



approved what I have done about the searching my 
coach, by his commanding me to continue to press for 
satisfaction of that affront. In obedience to which, I 
have writ another letter to the Marques de Mancera, 
and when they see with what authority it is backed, I 
doubt not but to have a speedy and satisfactory answer ; 
for nothing can be more changeable than the designs and 
resolutions of this Court, of which I cannot forbear to 
give your Lordship an instance of what passed with the 
Venetian ambassador in his dispute with the Conde de 
Anover. I sent your Lordship formerly two papers 
about that matter : the first was the ambassador's letter 
to me, as to all the other ministers, acquainting me with 
the satisfaction the King had given him by confining the 
Conde ; the other was sent me a week after by the 
Marques de Mancera, to disown all that satisfaction 
the ambassador had bragged of ; and now, lately, upon 
the ambassador complaining of that proceeding, Don 
Juan de Angulo writ him another letter, of which I here 
send your Lordship a copy, which in effect retracts the 
former retractation, and declares in terminis that to 
have been del agrado de su Magestad, which before 
the Marques writ to me was de su desagrado. Having 
before sent the two former, I thought this necessary to 
make a complete set. 

I was last week with the Marques de Mancera, to 
give him several memorials of our merchants' affairs, 
and among the rest one complaining of the open and 
barefaced commerce Alicant and all the kingdoms of 
Valencia maintain with the French of Marseilles, which 
correspondence had, by advices given the French, occji- 



50 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

sioned the taking of many of our merchants' ships in 
those seas. He heard me discourse it with great 
patience, and told me he believed it all true ; that the 
Council was all satisfied it was so, but that they could 
not tell how to remedy it, having often attempted 
it in vain ; that the King has only the name of Aragon 
and the dominions that depend on it, but said he to me 
(t he has no more power there than you have/' and they 
will do what they list, whether the King be pleased or 
displeased. By this I gather there is small hope of 
any redress to that grievance. 

His Catholic Majesty is now well, and abroad again, 
for joy of whose recovery the 18th instant was a 
masquerade on horseback by night with flambeaux, 
performed before the palace, wherein the Conde de 
Onate and his son were padrinos. Yesterday was a 
mogiganga, which is an antic masquerade, performed 
by the several companies of tradesmen of the villa of 
Madrid. Next month will be a fiesta de toros (a bull- 
fight), and beyond that they cannot go in their demon- 
strations for the greatest blessing God can give them. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, May 27, 1693. 

I received, yesterday, the honour of one from your 
Lordship, though of an old date, namely, the 28th of 
February, ordering me, by his Majesty's command to 
endeavour to obtain an express order from the Catholic 
King to the Viceroy of Sicily, to revoke the prohibition 
he has made to all the English in that island to keep 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



51 



any fire-arms in their houses ; and to give liberty to all 
his Majesty's subjects in Sicily, to keep such arms as 
may be necessary for the security of their houses and 
estates there. I will press it in the most effectual 
manner I can, though I fear it will be difficult, for, as I 
have this day informed myself, the prohibition is not 
general for all Sicily, but only at Messina, nor there 
particular to the English, but to all the inhabitants, 
whom the Spaniards do not think fit to trust with arms 
since then 1 last revolt ; nor is any nobleman in the place 
allowed to keep so much as a birding piece. However, 
I will use my best diligence. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, June 6, 1693. 

In my last letter to the Marques de Mancera, I have 
thought fit to give him a touch of the severe treatment 
of our ships from the Levant, by their Governor of 
Cadiz, Don Francisco de Velasco, who is natural son to 
the Constable of Castille, and is supported against all 
complaints at Court by the greatness of his father. . . . 
That Governor is insolent beyond measure, of which we 
have almost daily instances both from the English and 
Dutch Consuls, so that it would be certainly greatly 
for the interest of the common cause he were removed, 
if it could be effected ; the greatest benefit I know, we 
may expect from the alliance with Spain, being the free 
use of their ports, and if they deny us that, it is in effect 
to deny us all they can do for us. 

d 2 



52 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, June 17, 1693. 

We had last night the news of the surrender of Rosas,* 
which capitulated the 12th instant ; the Governor's arm 
being first shot off, and he incapacitated ; his deputy 
judged the place not tenable, knowing three mines 
ready to spring, and expecting a general assault. They 
had honourable conditions granted them. The castle, 
they say, holds out still, but that could be only for a 
day or two longer. This Court is strangely alarmed, 
and the Council sit day and night. All the horses fit 
for service are taken up, of which there are 900 at the 
Retiro, and one of their ears cut off, which is the King's 
mark. The Counsellors of State have all taxed them- 
selves a thousand pistoles a-piece. The Grandees, 
not Counsellors, furnish each six horses mounted and 
equipped. 



TO MR. WARRE. 

Madrid, June 24, 1693. 

I asked the Marques of Mancera, what news from 
Catalonia ; he said they had not heard a word from 
thence since the loss of Rosas, nor the particulars of 
that neither, only in general that it had capitulated. 
This I the rather believe, because I was informed not 
long before, by a domestic of the family, that the Council 
had writ to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, not to send so 
many expresses ; that they served only to disquiet and 

* To the Frencli army, from Roussillon. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



53 



disturb the minds of the people. The expression was, 
para alborotar al pueblo. 

On Sunday was se'nnight, between two and four in 
the morning, at Seville, were two great shakes of an 
earthquake, which frighted the people terribly, but did 
but little damage. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, August 26, 1693. 

I hate renewed my complaint to the Marques of 
Mancera about the old story of searching my coach 
upon a new occasion, which was, that three English 
gentlemen, lately come from Cadiz, one of them a son 
of Sir Arthur Ingram, borrowed my coach to go to 
see the Pardo, a hunting seat of the King, two leagues 
from hence. On their return, three of the guards 
stopped the coach, beginning with insolent language to 
the coachman, as Alto, cornudos, o yo os cortaro las 
piernas! (Stop, or I will cut off your legs !) They were 
sufficiently told it was the English Envoy's coach. 
.... But finding they were likely to meet with a 
brisk resistance they went off, pretending they did not 
believe it was my coach ; although the livery is very 
well known now, and besides that no liveries in town are 

laced, but only the Foreign Ministers The 

Marques de Maneera seemed much surprised to hear of 
it, and desired me to give it him in writing. 



54 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, September 9, 1693. 

This Court affords no manner of news,, unless it be 
that tertian and quartan agues are now as frequent here 
as in the most unhealthy parts of Kent or Essex. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, September 10, 1693. 

You know this place very seldom entertains us by 
any changes, so I shall only give you the state of our 
own family, which at present is very unhappy. Your 
mother is ill of a double tertian, and indeed our family 
is become an hospital, having no less than eight under 
the doctor's hands, all of tertians and quartans. All 
Madrid is the same. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, September 16, 1693. 

The Duke of Pastrana and Infant ado, first Duke of 
Spain, died last week of a violent fever, with this extra- 
ordinary circumstance, that when ready to expire, he 
called to the by-standers, and bid them take notice he 
died not a maravedi in debt to any person living — 
which is the only instance of a Spanish grandee in this 
age ! * 

His son and successor was accordingly very wealthy. St. Simon says of 
him in 1719 : tt II etait le plus riche Seigneur d'Espagne, jouissant d'environ 
u 2,000.000 de revenu, et s'amusant a l'occupation la plus triste, mais ou 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 55 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, September 24, 1693. 

I writ last post to Mr. Blathwayte, the Secretary at 
War, I had a son would wait on him in England, for 
whom I desired his favour to assist him with a cast of 
his office if occasion served, which I intermixed so with 
other things of greater concern, that I am sure he must 
show the King the letter. 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, October 14, 1693. 

Here is a discourse of raising 36,000 men, but that 
I suppose will be done with great Spanish leisure, poco 
a poco. 

TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM. 

Madrid, November 4, 1693. 

The ill success of the late battle in Piedmont has 
astonished this Court more than anything I have observed. 
Flanders they look on as concerning us and the Dutch 
more than themselves, but any loss in Italy touches 

them in a most sensible part They have 

resolved on a speedy levy of 35,000 foot and 8000 horse 
to reinforce their troops in all parts ; to raise these men 
they say they will quintear el Reyno, as they term it, 
that is, oblige every fifth man to serve. 

" il avait mis son punto ; ce fut de se batir une sepulture aux Capucins 
" de Guadalaxara, etdela faire exactement sur le modele, et avcc larrieme 
" magnificence de la sepulture des Rois a I'Escurial, excepte que le Pan- 
" theon de Guadalaxara est beaucoup plus petit." (Mem. vol. xix. 
p. 126, ed. 1829). 



56 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECONTK 



TO THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM; 

Madrid, November 18, 1693, 

I went last night to the Marques cle Mancera, to 
acquaint liini with the orders I had, in case His Catholic 
Majesty approved the proposal, to despatch away a man- 
of-war from Cadiz, with such directions as he pleased to 
give, to take what route and to what latitude shoidd be 
thought fit to meet the Flota and give them the neces- 
sary advices to avoid the enemy He approved 

it very well, but desired it in writing, for no resolution 
could be taken on it but in Council, whither he must 
pass it. These are the tedious formalities they tie 
themselves up to, by which they lose nine parts of ten of 
the opportunities of advantage that are offered them, 
and their enemies cannot but discover their designs 
time enough to prevent them. 

This King has taken away, by a late decree, a third 
part of all wages and salaries of all officers and ministers, 
without exception, and suspended for the ensuing year, 
1694, all pensions for life granted either by himself or 
his father. 



TO MR. WARRE. 

Madrid, November 25, 1693. 

Five French men-of-war, and a fire-ship, have, in the 
fifteen days last past, appeared before Malaga, Gibraltar, 
and Cadiz. Three of them passed the Streight's mouth 
together, in sight of all the Spanish armada, which 
would not see them. On the 14th instant, the armada 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 57 

went into port at Cadiz, which being our King's birth- 
day, and the English ships there firing all their guns on 
that occasion, the Spanish admiral understood it as a 
salute to himself, and answered them with fifteen guns. 



TO MR. JAMES VERNON, UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE. 

Madrid, December 16, 1693. 
Sixty Englishmen were brought over prisoners in the 
Flota, and are like to be condemned to the gallies. The 
inclosed account I had of them from an Englishman in 
the Spanish service, and who went and returned pilot 
to the Capitana. I believe they are no saints, yet they 
are sixty good seamen, and would do much better sendee 
on board their Majesties' ships, than in the Spanish 
gallies. I will inform myself what there is against them, 
so soon as the acts of then' process are transmitted 
hither to the Council of the Indies. 



TO MR, JAMES VERNON. 

Madrid, January 13, 1694. 

This Court pretends to make some figure on their 
part also this summer. Five regiments are immediately 
to be raised in Estreniadura, of which the maitres de 
camp, and several other officers, are already declared, 
and they talk of other levies to be made in Andalusia 
and Castille. What they may do in the provinces I 
know not ; but have seen in Madrid, that, in four 
months' time, they have not, with all their diligence, 
been able to get a thousand men, though they are 

d 3 



58 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

beating the drams every day ; for as fast as new ones 
come in, the former ran away : and of them that at 
any time march out of town, I am assured that always 
about one-half of them drop off before they reach 
Catalonia, and that by consent of their officers, having 
listed them onlv on those terms, to make a show in 
marching out of town. In short, nothing of good can 
be expected hence, either by land or sea. The Spanish 
armada is never ready to go out till mid- August, and 
then cannot keep the sea above fifteen days, without 
going into some port to careen and refit. 

I shall conclude with our weather here, which has 
been for twenty days past as cold as ever I felt in 
England, the King having been every day, with vast 
multitudes of people, to see sliding on skates, in the 
great ponds of the Retiro. 



TO SIR JOHN TRENCHARD, SECRETARY OF STATE. 

Madrid, March 13, 1694. 

The truth is, ever since setting up the cordon, we 
(the Foreign Ministers) have all in effect been prisoners 
within Madrid, and nobody must stir a league out of 
town, but must go provided and resolved to fight His 
Catholic Majesty's guards. 



TO SIR JOHN TRENCHARD. 

Madrid, March 16, 1694. 

Last week died here Don Juan de Angulo, Secretario 
del Despacho Universal, a very well meaning man, but 
not equal for such a charge, and plainly sunk under it. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 59 

The day before yesterday, Don Alonso de Carnero took 
possession of the place : he was before Secretary of State 
of the southern province, a very able minister, bred 
much abroad, and one of the civilest Spaniards I have 
met with. 



TO ADMIRAL NEVILLE. 

Madrid, April 27, 1694. 

I am not so sanguine as I find you are, in your 
opinion of the Spaniards' preparations as to their armada, 
for, by experience I have had of them, I cannot but 
believe the number will not only fall short, but those 
they can set out will require a much longer time to get 
ready; in both which I hope I may be mistaken. 



TO THE EARL OF GAL WAY. 

Madrid, May 6, 1694. 

As to our preparations here, the noise is always 
greater than the reality : there are already marched 
from hence 1200 horse, and 6 more are to follow for 
Catalonia, and there is designed 10,000 foot. 

We are here in daily expectation of a great change 
of all affairs in this Court, by the Duque de Montalto 
being declared Valido or Premier Minister, which is 
not yet done; but if it be, the Junta of Tenientes Gene- 
rales ceases that moment, and all affairs, both military 
and civil, will entirely be ordered as he pleases. This 
country is at present in great fear of a famine for want 
of rain, which there has been none to wet the ground 
in four months, which makes the prices of all things 



60 $PAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

rise most excessively. As an addition to this calamity, 
clouds of locusts have fallen in many places of Anda- 
lusia and Estremadura, and devoured all that was green 
on the ground. 



TO THE MARQUIS OF HALIFAX. 

Madrid, May 19, 1694. 

They played me here a very scurvy trick last night 
in sending an express for England without giving me 
notice, which, for their own sakes, they ought to have 
done in so important a concern ; and this leads me to 
the news which so much startles us all here, namely, 
that yesterday came an express from Cadiz, of the 
appearance of 50 or 60 French men-of-war off Cadiz, 
and because I should not have it in time, nor suspect 
their sending away a Correo, they kept a letter I had of 
the same advice from Cadiz, by the same express, till 
this day at noon ! My letter is from Mr. Hodges, an 
eminent merchant there, and of the 15th instant, now 
but four days ago ; it says that their fishermen came in 
and brought notice of 50 to 60 sail of French ships, 
gone by with a strong westerly wind for the streights ; 
the fishermen swore it before the Governor. 

My wife went home a fortnight ago for England, 
where she will present my most humble duty to my 
Lady, and desire your Lordship to acquaint her from 
me, that I desire she will not let Lady Stanhope * go 

* Lady Elizabeth Savile, daughter of the Marquis of Halifax, married 
in 1691 Lord Stanhope of Shelford, afterwards third Earl of Chesterfield. 
Their eldest son was the fourth and celebrated Earl of Chesterfield, born 
four months after the date of this letter, September 1694. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



61 



abroad in a coach, for I remember I heard Tom Killi- 
grew once on such an occasion swear to King Charles 
the Second, that coaches in London streets destroyed 
him more subjects every year than ever he had lost in 
any Dutch fight. 



TO SIR JOHN TRENCHARD. 

Madrid, May 19, 1694. 

Here" have been last week several meetings of the 
Council of State Extraordinary, at which the King was 
present ; and one day His Majesty staid there till one 
o'clock, which made all people believe the business was 
very extraordinary, he never having been known before 
to miss his dinner punctually at twelve. What I can 
discover of the subject is, that it was debated how this 
Crown should behave itself in the present difference 
about the Election at Liege between the Bishop of 
Cologne and the Grand Master, and that the result was 
not to concern themselves either way, but leave it to the 
Pope and Emperor to determine. 



TO LORD SIDNEY. 

Madrid, Map 30, 1694. 
The French and Spanish armies lie in sight of each 
other near Gerona \ only a river between them. Though 
the French are much more numerous, yet the Spanish 
contemn them, and seem resolved to fight* I fear they 

* The result of this rashness on the part of the Spaniards was their 
total defeat, with great loss, at the battle of the Ter, May 27, 1694. See 



62 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

will suddenly be disabused by the success, though they 
are of the opinion in general that one Spaniard can beat 
three Gavachos* 



TO THE MARQUIS OF HALIFAX. 

Madrid, May 31, 1694. 

The chief minister here, in effect, though not de- 
clared Valido, is the Duque de Montalto, with whom I 
can never hope to be well, though his quarrel is not to 
me but to the King my master, whom he refused when 
Prince of Orange to treat with €t Highness," and gave 
him only " Excellency," though at the same visit the 
Governor of Flanders gave him Highness, and Montalto 
was only General of the horse ; upon which the Prince 
desired the Governor that Duke might never more 
appear before him, as he never did, and in revenge he 
is, as I am assured, at this time a zealous promoter of a 
separate peace, and if things go ill this summer in 
Catalonia, as it is very probable they will, it is not 
impossible but by the present sway he has he may 
effect it. 

the official relation of the Duke de Noailles; State of Europe, 1694, 
p. 198, or the Mem. de Noailles, vol. i. p. 247. Mr. Stanhope's letters 
give no new particulars, and I omit those already known. 

* A nickname for the French, in Spain ; it was much used in the War 
of Independence. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



63 



TO SIR JOHN TRENCHARD. 

Madrid, June 2, 1694. 

We had yesterday yet worse news of the loss of a 
battle near Gerona, some account of which you will see 

inclosed This day about noon came another 

letter, despatched by the Viceroy, confirming the ill 
success, laying the fault on the new-raised horse ; that 
the slaughter is greater than mentioned in the first 
advices ; and that the enemies are masters of the field, 
destroying and burning all the country. The Duke of 
Ossuna was nominated three days ago the Vice- General 
of all the coasts of the Mediterranean, to dispose all 
places into the best posture of defence, and was to have 
posted in three days more ; but being yesterday in the 
evening at the Council, came out not well, and died this 
morning at three o' clock. 



TO MR. HOPKINS, UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE. 

Madrid, June 9, 1694. 

This Court and all the people are very big with 
expectation of the sudden arrival of a squadron in these 
seas from the north, of 25 English and 15 Dutch men- 
of-war, to join with those at Cadiz, of which they pretend 
certain advices from their Ministers in England and 
Holland. I wish it may consist with our designs at 
home, as much as it would be convenient for the Spanish 
affairs here ; but hope if such a squadron do come, they 
will bring along with them all things they may possibly 
have occasion for, whatsoever happen, both provisions 



64: 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



of war, ship-tackle and victuals, for if they expect to 
find any of them here, they will be much mistaken, 
whatever then Ministers may say to the contrary, who 
in this exigency will not stick to promise largely. 



TO MR. BLATHWAYTE, SECRETARY AT WAR. 

Madrid. June 10. 1694. 

There has been lately a great tumult of the rabble 
against the French in Zaragoza, which the Viceroy, and 
the Archbishop with the sacrament, endeavoured in vain 
to pacify, till the Viceroy promised them to banish them 
all, and confiscate then estates ; but they had first killed 
several persons, and plundered and burnt several houses. 



TO MR. BLATHWAYTE. 

Madrid, June 24, 1694. 
I went to Don Alonso Carnero, and gave him the 
letter inclosed in yours from his Majesty to the King of 
Spain. So soon as he received it, he laid it on his head 
as the profoundest sign of veneration.* . . . . He 
styled his Majesty the greatest Prmce in the world, El 
Redemptor de Europa. 



TO ADMIRAL NEVILLE. 

Madrid, June 29. 1694. 

The French sat down before Gerona the 21st instant, 
since which we hear little how they advance; this Court 
telling the world no more than needs they must against 

* A custom still universal in the East : the Spaniards no doubt had it 
from the Moors. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



65 



themselves : but in probability it must be lost, unless 
St. Narcissus come again to defend it with a swarm of 
flies, as they say he did when it was last besieged, and 
made the French rise; for since the defeat of their army 
they have no hopes, unless in such a miracle, which 
does not happen every day. If half our fleet come into 
those seas suddenly, as this Court expects, it may save 
Barcelona. 



TO SIR JOHN TRENCHARD. 

Madrid, July 7, 1694. 

This Court is very melancholy upon the loss of 
Gerona, which they looked on as impregnable, having, 
as they say, baffled the French in twenty-three sieges. 
It was invested the 21st of June. In a day or two they 
took the fort of the Capuchins, next that of the Con- 
destable which commands the town, and the 29th it 
capitulated, and was surrendered the 30th, upon very 
honourable terms for the besieged. 



TO MR. HOPKINS. 

Madrid, July 14, 1694. 

I writ last week to Mr. Secretary, that the garrison 
of Gerona had made honourable capitulations, which 
was what then was given out, but since it appears that 
as never any place defended itself worse, so never any 
surrendered on more infamous capitulations, namely, to 
be all disarmed, most of their horses taken away from 
them, not to serve against the French in four months, 



66 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

and not to return the direct way, but obliged to make 
such a tour in their march, as to make it impossible for 
them to serve their country again sooner. All the world 
cries out against them ; and it is confidently affirmed, 
that two regiments of Germans, and one of Spaniards 
almost entire, have since taken service with the French. 
These disasters coming so thick, and no visible remedy 
appearing, had raised a very high ferment in the minds 
of the people here, which expressed itself in great inso- 
lencies to the great men, as they passed the streets, and 
to one of the greatest, even in the King's palace ; and 
the Royal authority itself began to lose its veneration, 
several scandalous pasquins being fixed in several public 
places, magnifying the great King of France, and with 
very little respect to His Catholic Majesty by name, 
insomuch, that had not Mr. Russell appeared with his 
squadron as he did, it is generally believed some more 
public scandals would have followed. But all that fear 
is now over, and joy appears in all countenances. 



TO THE EARL OF GALWAY. 

Madrid, September 9, 1694. 

Admiral Russell met such ill weather, and con- 
tinual contrary winds on his passage, that he could not 
get to Barcelona before the 8th of August, when upon 
several conferences with the Marques de Villena, the 
Viceroy, he found the Spanish army not in a condition 
to attempt anything suddenly, to which he with his 
fleet might give any countenance ; and that the French 
fleet was not only retired to Toulon, but had there 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 67 

strongly fortified themselves, which, together with the 
advanced season of the year, made him not think it 
convenient to stay longer with his great ships ; so the 
26th August he sailed from thence to return for the 
north, since which we have heard nothing of him. 
Great endeavours have been used by the Court to stop 
him, and that the fleet may winter in these seas ; and I 
am almost of opinion they will still prevail, for I have 
received lately several paquets in a very short time for 
the Admiral, both from England and the King in 
Flanders, and despatched them to meet him as he 
directed me. I have some reasons to believe they carry 
him orders to stay, though I am not certain. This I 
know, the Court here look on it as certain : a few days 
will clear the doubt. 



TO THE EARL OF GAL WAY. 

Madrid, September 23, 1694. 

The raising the siege of Ostalric, upon a panic terror 
of the approach of the French, was as scandalous as all 
the rest of the actions of this campaign. They had 
taken the town, the castle to capitulate. The Governor 
offering to surrender upon honourable terms, the 
Spaniards refused to give them any other conditions 
than what the French had given their garrison at 
Gerona : which the Governor not admitting, prepared 
again for his defence. In the mean time, reports being 
spread (whether true or false, I cannot tell) that the 
French were coming to relieve it, all on a sudden they 



68 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



abandoned the siege, and marched off. The French 
had better success in their siege at Castel Follet, which 
they have taken. 



TO LORD GODOLPHIN. 

Madrid, October 8, 1694. 

The Marques of Mancera, my Commissary, is 80 
years old, sick, doating, and a passionate friend to 
Canales.* The Secretary of the North, Don Crispin 
Botello, is as old, peevish, oppressed by business, and 
so either forgetful or malicious, that I know he has 
kept my memorials of national concerns three months 
by him, without presenting them to the Council, which 
it is his duty to do immediately. I have no remedy. 

This country is in a most miserable condition ; no 
head to govern, and every man in office does what he 
pleases, without fear of being called to account. They 
are trying all manner of ways to raise money, in which 
the present Presidente de Hacienda is thought a great 
master ; yet all the funds are already anticipated for so 
many years, that he can find nobody will advance, and 

* I am surprised to find this unfavourable character of the Marques de 
Mancera ; other authorities represent him as a most able and most upright 
statesman; and in the instructions drawn up by the Duke de Beauvilliers 
for Philip the Fifth, we may observe that he is held up as the model for 
future Viceroys to be appointed in America. He was still surviving in 
1710 when the English army entered Madrid; and in spite of anxious and 
repeated solicitations on their part, steadily maintained his allegiance to 
King Philip. — The Marques de Canales was the Spanish Envoy in 
England, but no friend to that country; in 1704 he became Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, through the influence of Princess Orsini. (St. Simon, 
Mem. vol. iv. p. 73.) 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 69 

there are no galleons nor flota to be expected in a long 
time. Affairs in Catalonia can hardly be worse : since 
the last vain attempt on Ostalric, their army is dwindled 
above one half, and cannot make together, horse and 
foot, above 4000 men fit for service ; so that, though 
our fleet may secure Barcelona and the coasts, yet all 
the inland country must be at the discretion of the 
French. Admiral Russell has been very ill ten days at 
Alicant. 



TO THE EARL OF GALWAY. 

Madrid, October 21, 1694. 

The Marques de Gastanaga had, two days ago, his 
despatches as Captain- General of Catalonia, upon the 
resignation of the Duke de Escalona, and is, according 
to his temper, preparing a splendid equipage, having 
most of the tailors now in town at work. We have 
been much alarmed these five last days with expresses 
from Catalonia of the French designing to besiege 
Barcelona by sea and land, some ships having appeared 
off at a distance ; but it now appears only to have been 
the people's fear, and that there is no such thing : it 
were a very bold attempt in this season, and our fleet so 
ready at hand. 



TO THE MARQUIS OF NORMANBY. 

Madrid, October 26, 1694. 
I look on myself as fixed here for some time, and, 
for aught I know, as long as this Government may con- 
tinue, which seems to me so absolutely at the discretion 



70 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



of the French, that whenever they shall please to send a 
body of horse to Madrid, there is nothing either by the 
way, or here, that can make the least opposition. 



TO MR. HOPKINS. 

Madrid, December 12, 1694. 

The Spaniards rely altogether upon their allies to 
defend them, while they are pui^suing, with great heats 
and animosities, their little Court factions. There is, at 
present, a very strong one against the Queen, who they 
cannot bear to see, after so many years 5 mortification, 
that she has got some credit with the King ; and their 
present great design is to remove from her Madame 
Berlips, a German lady, her favourite. This lady's son, 
Baron Berlips, lately made his entry here as Envoy from 
the King of Poland; and, as he went to his audience 
with the Conductor of Ambassadors in the King's coach, 
a company of ruffians came to the coach side, giving 
him and his mother very ill names, one of them saying, 
" Let us kill the dog ! " Another replied, " Not now, 
"for he is in the King's coach; we will take a more con- 
" venient opportunity/' Nothing is so much talked of 
at present as ousting that family ; and then they think 
their monarchy safe ! 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



71 



TO THE EARL OF GAL WAY. 

Madrid, December 16, 1094. 

We have frequent Juntas and Councils, wherein are 
great variety of projects for raising money, but nothing 
yet resolved. Factions ran very high, and whatever is 
proposed by one party is, for that very reason, disliked 
and rejected by the other. The assembling of the 
Cortes, or States of the kingdom, has been proposed by 
some, in the Council of Castille, as the only remedy to 
save the monarchy. It was not much regarded, nor, I 
believe, like suddenly to take effect, although the pro- 
posal was very bold, and gives people occasion of think- 
ing. It may prove a remedy whenever it is applied, 
but will probably be a very rough one, and so like to be 
deferred till the last extremity. 

The poor French gentleman at Barcelona was very 
fortunate in getting so soon out of the Inquisition ; for 
I have since interceded, by our Queen's command, and 
in Her Majesty's name, for the liberty of four others, of 
the same nation, in the Inquisition at Bilbao, and have 
had a flat denial ; this King answering me, that he never 
intermeddles in any proceedings relating to matters of 
religion, though against his own domestics. 



TO MR. HOPKINS. 

Madrid, January 5, 1695. 

Nothing of moment has passed in the Court since the 
banishment of the Conde de Banos, the cause of which 
is variously discoursed. He is a person of a pleasant 



72 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



drolling humour, by which he diverted the King, and 
never interfered in matters of state, which makes the 
thing yet more wondered at. What seems most pro- 
bable is, that the faction which designs to remove the 
Queers favourites — Madame Berlips, her son and the 
Palatine Envoy, with whom the Conde de Banos had 
lately contracted great intimacy — thought that begin- 
ning with him who was looked upon as a kind of 
favourite to the King, the Queen would have the less 
reason to formalise when, afterwards, they should fall 
upon her creatines. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, January 5, 1695. 

It is now excessively cold, and we have as much snow 
as ever I saw in London streets, and all the rields 
covered a foot thick. Your brother says he never felt 
such cold anywhere as in his journey, though the snow 
has fallen since his arrival, which was the 2nd instant. 
.... The nation dmes with me to morrow, bemg our 
twelfth -day. 



TO MR. HOPKINS. 

Madrid, January 12, 1695. 

This Court is most miserably distracted with fac- 
tions, who mind nothing but the raining each other. 
Honest Don Alonso Carnero was put out of his office 
Friday night last, after having been two hours de- 
spatching papers with the King, according to custom. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



73 



who expressed not the least sign of displeasure against 
him, but gave him a paper sealed for the President of 
Castille, which was an order that he should discharge 
him from the Despacho Universal. The causes of this 
sudden change are so variously discoursed, I can give 
you nothing of certainty, only it is agreed he was of the 
young Queen's party, and when anything was designed 
against her Germans, he gave her notice, which so 
offended the Queen-Mother and the Cardinal,* that they 
publicly gave out they would retire to Toledo, and, in 
appearance, were preparing to be gone, when the King, 
to gratify and quiet them, sacrificed to them his faithful 
servant. 



TO HIS WIFE. 

Madrid, January 26, 1695. 

The great snows and rains we have had lately have so 
swelled the waters that no posts have been able to come 
from any parts. My son returned two days ago from 
the Escuriai, and had much difficulty to pass where he 

had seen no water for days before This weather 

is most terrible, and the scarcity of provisions such, I 
could not get in Madrid a pound of mutton to-day 
for my dinner. 

* Portocarrero, Archbi&hop of Toledo. 



E 



74 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO THE EARL OF GALWAY. 

Madrid, January 27, 1695. 

My last letters from Barcelona tell me their new 
Viceroy has granted liberty of a free trade with France, 
under the pretence of receiving "better intelligence from 
thence. AVhat the Court means to do with that country 
I cannot imagine, for they have not, as yet, begun the 
least preparations for the defence of it. Here have been 
several changes lately. The Almirante (or Admiral) of 
Castille is made Cavalarizo Mayor (Master of the Horse) 
to the King ; Don Alonso Carnero, a gentleman of great 
honour, and a very able minister, put out of the Secre- 
taria of the Despacho Universal by a Court cabal ; and 
the Duke of Montalto has exchanged his Presidency of 
the Council of the Indies for that of Aragon. These 
changes are talked of as great matters here, but what 
they signify to the public I know not. 



TO ADMIRAL RUSSELL. 

Madrid, February 15, 1695. 

The ways here have been so impassable that we have 
had no post from Catalonia in four weeks, which alarmed 
the Court so much by a like example they had had in 
Portugal, when that kingdom revolted, that fearing the 
like of Catalonia, they sent orders to meet the ordinary, 
and found he was stopped by a river he could not pass, 
twenty-four leagues distant from hence. Don Juan de 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



75 



Larrea told me upon this occasion, that their post mules, 
which bring the letters, come as heavily laden as any 
carriers ! * 



TO MR. HOPKINS. 

Madrid, February 16, 1695. 
The greatest news we have here is what has passed 
lately concerning the Conde de Oropesa, who, if he 
returns to Court, will certainly be chief at the helm 
as formerly. The King lately sent for him to exercise 
his charge of President of the Council of Italy, who, in 
obedience to that command, being come as far as a place 
called Nava al Carnero, within six leagues of Madrid, 
met there another order to return back to his house. 
This latter order is said to be procured from the young 
Queen, who looks not on him as her friend, and would 
not have him first minister. Yet the general opinion 
is, he will ere long return, and be V alido. 



TO ADMIRAL RUSSELL. 

Madrid, February 22, 1695. 

I can inform you little more of the affairs of this 
Court than by my last, only that it is agreed on all 
hands that the young Queen carries all before her, since 
his Majesty's Confessor has told him he is obliged, in 

* It is remarkable, that in Mr. A. Stanhope's MS. work on the causes 
of the decay of the Spanish monarchy, one cause assigned is the un- 
favourable position of Madrid. u This being a place almost inaccessible to 
" all land-carriage but mules, there could be no commerce, nor scarce any 
"convenieney of life, but at vast charges. " Mr. Stanhope was told by one 

E 2 



76 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



conscience, to do whatsoever she will have him, which 
he proves thus : upon the satisfaction of her mind de- 
pends the good disposition of her body ; upon that the 
hope of succession ; upon that the happiness of the 
monarchy, which his Majesty is obliged in conscience 
to do all things to procure ! 



TO THE EARL OF GALW AY. 

Madrid, March 24, 1695. 

Our Catalan peasants have lately done an action 
beyond anything I have known done by their disciplined 
troops. They got together about 4000 men, and fell 
upon the Governor of Castel Follet, who marched with 
900 men to raise contribution, beat them in the open 
held till they retired to a church, where, being like to 
be burnt, they surrendered at discretion ; 200 men were 
killed and wounded, and 600 prisoners, among whom 
is the Governor of Castel Follet, who is also much 
wounded. 



TO MR. HOPKINS. 

Madrid, April 13, 1695. 

Three days ago the horse-guards of the Cordon 
here, which have held Madrid besieged for two years, 
and given me and everybody else so much trouble, being 

of the Spanish ministers, that after the conquest of Portugal it had been in 
deliberation before the Council to remove the seat of empire either to Lisbon 
or to Barcelona, " but the Grandees of Castille would not hear of residing 
so far from their estates and vassals." 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



77 



at last found very prejudicial to the King's revenue, as 
well as a public nuisance, were discharged that service, 
and ordered immediately to march away to Ceuta ; so 
that now we have only the ordinary guards at the gates, 
and are at liberty to take the air in the fields, which we 
could not do before. 

After almost a year's solicitation for a new Commis- 
sary, His Catholic Majesty was pleased last week to 
assign me the Marques de Los Balbases. He is very 
old and decrepit, and lately turned priest. However, I 
have the satisfaction that it is impossible he can be more 
insignificant than the Marques de Mancera was to me 
before. 



TO THE EARL OF GAL WAY. 

Madrid, May 5, 1695. 

The Catalans get on still successfully, having lately 
obliged the French to abandon St. Feliu, after having 
killed and taken 200 men of that garrison they met 
abroad in two several parties. We have now above 
1500 French prisoners, taken in three or four late for- 
tunate encounters. This Court is now very busy about 
ways of raising money, sending to borrow considerable 
sums of all persons they think rich and easy in their 
affairs ; as also exposing to sale Viceroyships and 
governments in the Indies ; one gentleman, Don Diego 
de Cordova, Marques del Vado, having offered 200,000 
pieces of eight for that of Peru, which, it is believed, 
will be accepted. 



78 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, May 25, 1695. 

I am glad, dear James, to see by your letter of the 
23d of April you believe your mother better, and much 
approve the resolution of her removing into the country : 
she will be there better pleased, according to her humour, 
which always inclined her more to solitude and retire- 
ment, than the noise and hurry of the great world ; be- 
sides that, I know she has a particular good opinion of 
Dr. Dimsdale.* 

The sudden loss of our generous friend, my good 
Lord Halifax, is a great blow to us all, but particularly 
to you in this critical conjuncture, when you had so fair 
hopes by his favour. I fear you may find more cold- 
ness now from some persons who promised you great 
things formerly upon his account, yet however I hope 
you continue to try them, and push your pretensions 
with them as far as they will go. Old Bishop Ward, of 
Salisbury, was a wise man, and used to say he had 
found more advantage by one end of a verse of Ovid, 
Quid enim tentasse nocebit ? than by all the rest of his 
learning, Latin and Greek, put together. What the 
young Lord Halifax's temper is, I know little or no- 
thing, but intend to write to him next post, and doubt 
not of your compliance with all the devoirs of decency 
and respect to his Lordship and all the family on this 
occasion. 

* Mrs. Stanhope had lately arrived from Madrid, in precarious health, 
and went to reside at Hertford during several months, for the benefit of the 
air, and the advice of Dr. Dimsdale, an eminent physician at that place. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 79 

We hear nothing more of Minheer Van Zitters since 
that you wrote me from Portsmouth ; nor is any house 
yet provided for him. When he comes I shall be ready 
to correspond with him in all the civilities of sociable 
life, a thing I have been little acquainted with here. 



TO LORD LEXINGTON, ENGLISH MINISTER AT VIENNA. 

Madrid, June 9, 1695. 

All these late successes in Catalonia are owing to 
the different method of the Marques de Gastanaga from 
their former Viceroys, who were always jealous of the 
natives, and would never trust them to defend them- 
selves ; whereas, he permits the use of arms to all, en- 
courages and trusts them equally with the Castillians, 
having indeed no other game to play, considering the 
deplorable condition he found the country in, and it has 
succeeded beyond expectation. 



TO MR. JAMES VERNON. 

Madrid, June 22, 1695. 

The treaty of alliance between this Court and the 
Government of Algiers goes on in very good earnest ; 
the friar who came to propose it being ordered back to 
desire an ambassador may be sent to treat particulars, 
with assurances he shall be well received and favourably 
heard. 



80 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 

TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, June 23, 1695. 

I am much pleased, my dear son, to see by yours of 
the 1st instant, from Ghent, you had had a good pas- 
sage,, and were got safe so far. I beseech Almighty 
God to bless and preserve you in all the dangers you 
are like to encounter : since it has pleased him to take 
away your poor brother,* you are now all the comfort I 
have left. You must have heard it before this from 
England. He died the 14th of May, five days after the 
fleet sailed from Cadiz, of a violent fever. I have had 
condolences from the Admiral, Yice-Admiral, Captain 
Foulkes, and all the factories in the Mediterranean, with 
the greatest commendations I have ever heard of any 
young man, except yourself: and indeed, by the late 
knowledge I had of him the little time he was with me, 
I believe he deserved them all ; he had all the principles 
of justice and true honour in his nature, and what is 
more extraordinary in his education, a great sense of 
religion and piety. I remember in a discourse we had 
of that nature, he told me he had heard you say your 
friend Duke Schomberg was extremely religious and 
devout, which I was mightily pleased to hear, as hoping 
you imitate him in that most excellent of all virtues, as 
well as you have done in a great many others : and cer- 
tainly to be always prepared to die, is of more absolute 
necessity in your profession than in any other state of 
life, since you are hourly exposed, and have it continually 



* Alexander Stanhope, Lieut. R. N. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 81 

before your eyes. This I know is no proper subject for 
a letter, but the tender affection of a father may excuse 
it, who desires your happiness equally with his own. 

I remove to-morrow to a new house, within three 
doors of that where you left me, having always been 
sickly where I now am, though it be the pleasantest 
house and garden I ever saw ; but all gardens, by reason 
of the much water necessary to them, are unwholesome 
in this country. Therefore all the great men have their 
dwelling-houses without them, but have them at a dis- 
tance, with a little summer-house, whither they go 
sometimes only for recreation. 



TO MR. JAMES VERNON. 

Madrid, July 6, 1695. 

The Friar, mentioned in my last, was sent back last 
week to Algiers with the character of his Catholic Majesty's 
Envoy extraordinary to that Government, and a present 
to the King of two fine spotted horses like leopards, with 
rich embroidered furniture, and a diamond ring. If the 
Algerines do not speedily come to the relief of Ceuta 
as they promise, that place will certainly be lost. 



TO THE EARL OF GALWAY. 

Madrid, July 14, 1695. 

The desertions have been so great in the French 
army (in Catalonia), that our Consul of Barcelona writes 
me, he had picked up a hundred Switzers, all lusty 

e 3 



82 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



fellows, and sent them to you. If any offices of mine 
might facilitate the getting more, I would very indus- 
triously employ them; but there will be no obstacle 
from this Court, for though they esteem the Switzers 
good men, yet they do not covet them in Spain, where, 
upon often trials, they have made ill proof, killing them- 
selves with surfeiting and cbunkenness. 



TO ADMIRAL RUSSELL. 

Madrid, September 10, 1695. 

All we have here is the greatest resentment against 
the Prince of Darmstadt for leaving the siege of Pala- 
mos with his troops, insomuch that a Privy Counsellor 
said in Council, the Marques de Gastanaga was only to 
blame for not taking off his head.* 



TO ADMIRAL RUSSELL. 

Madrid, September 27, 1695. 

Sunday last was sevennight, the conductor of ambas- 
sadors was sent with a message from the King to M. 

* According to Admiral Russell, the fault was rather in the troops than 
in the General. He writes to the Duke of Shrewsbury from Palamos, 
August 26, 1695 : — " The Spanish army are now on their march to Ostal- 
" ric, and, by what I have observed already, they will march farther in two 
" days from the enemy than they did in six towards them. God send them 
" well thither, for nothing but a high mountain, or an unfordable river, is 
" security sufficient for such miserable creatures, with officers at the head 
" of them who are no soldiers." (See the Shrewsbury Correspondence.) 
But some allowance is to be made for Admiral Russell's exaggerations. 
Mr. Hallam truly observes of him, " This was a most odious man, as ill- 
M tempered and violent as he was perfidious." (Const. Hist. vol. iii. 
p. 185.) 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



83 



Schonenberg,* to leave Madrid in six days, and that 
they will receive no more papers from or treat with him ; 
the motive, as the Marques de Los Balbases tells me, 
being some disrespectful offices of his in a late memo- 
rial, and having done ill offices relating to the Dutch 
ships in the fleet. 



TO ADMIRAL RUSSELL. 

Madrid, October 4, 1695. 

M. Schonenberg was yesterday forcibly carried out 
of town by two Alcaldes de Corte, with a numerous 
attendance of alguazils. It looks very oddly a minister 
of our King should be forced out of this Court in such 
a manner, at the same time the memory of Namur is so 
fresh. Mons. Schonenberg is at Rosas, three leagues 
off, where he continues till he receives our King's orders. 



TO ADMIRAL RUSSELL. 

Madrid, October 11, 1695. 

I should now repeat my regret for your leaving us, 
did I not know it were so much to your own satisfaction, 
and indeed I must think you have a great deal of reason 
to desire to leave a place where you have deserved so 
well, and been used so ill. 

Although news from this Court must be grown now 
indifferent to you, yet if you are concerned for anything 
here, it must be for your fair passenger, t whose friends 

* Envoy from the States of Holland and of King William as Stadthohioi. 
i* The Queen. 



84 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



and partizans are like now to be much more vigorously 
attacked than they were last winter. You have heard 
how much the great men here are generally offended 
with the Prince of Hesse for what he did at Palamos, 
and the powerful support he has against them. It hap- 
pened that about ten days ago the Aragon or Catalonia 
post, which is the sanie, going out with his mail between 
one and two in the morning, was, before he got out of 
town, stopped by four men masked, who only took away 
the King's paquets, throwing all the rest upon the 
ground, and so left him. To discover the actors (after 
all other diligences in vain) yesterday was published a 
proclamation. I need speak no plainer. It is a business 
like to have very violent consequences. 



TO THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. 

Madrid, October 26, 1095. 

I fear your new Parliament will meet late this win- 
ter, His Majesty having been detained so long by the 
slow German Princes at the Hague ; but as to the great 
stickling between High and Low Church in the elections, 
I hope they will agree together so far as effectually to 
secure us against Popery, and then it will be the less 
matter whichever gets the better. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 85 



TO THE EARL OF GAL WAY. 

Madrid, November 3, 1695. 

This Court continues in its usual tranquillity, or 
rather I may call it insensibility, the greatest expecta- 
tion that amuses them being to know how our King 
resents their so scandalous behaviour to his Minister, 
M. Schonenberg. 



TO ADMIRAL SIR GEORGE ROOKE. 

Madrid, December 6, 1695. 

I have demanded that our sick men be received, and 
furnished with, all necessaries, in the marine hospital at 
Cadiz, to which they have yet vouchsafed me no answer, 
neither do I expect it, being informed that orders have 
been sent down hence to the contrary, solicited by the 
zeal of our Cardinal here, who represented that heretic 
dogs ought not to partake of his Catholic Majesty's 
charity equally with good Catholics, nor to be inter- 
mixed amongst them. This I believe will not be very 
well taken in England, since besides the barbarity of it 
in itself, it is contrary to the thirteenth article of the 
treaty at the Hague, in the year 1692, which, though it 
was then only stipulated for sixteen men-of-war, yet a 
fortiori ought to engage them much more now, when 
we give them a succour so much more considerable. 



86 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

TO THE DUKE OF SHREWSBURY. 

Madrid, December 21, 1695. 
I delivered a memorial two days ago to the 
Marques de Los Balbases, which it was very pleasant 
that he would not receive, till I first assured him 
it did not concern Monsieur Schonenberg, for without 
giving me leave to speak, he prevented me by crying 
aloud, he had nothing more to say to me, nor would 
hear anything more from me concerning the matter, but 
so soon as he was satisfied that suspicion was groundless, 
he had patience to hear me out ; when having done 
with all the business I came for, I took notice how nice 
his Excellency was as to M. Schonenberg' s case, 
concerning which, though I had then no fresh orders 
from the King my master, yet I expected them 
suddenly, and must immediately obey them ; therefore, 
not to give his Excellency or myself a trouble to no 
purpose, I desired to know whether he would receive 
and hear me, without those difficulties he made formerly 
— if not, I must find some other way to pass what orders 
I should receive to the knowledge of his Catholic 
Majesty. He was surprised and struck with the demand, 
and, after much pausing and hesitation, answered, that 
since I had begun to treat that matter first with Don 
Juan de Larrea, he thought it most proper I should 
continue it by the same hand, bidding me, at the same 
time, with emphasis, take notice he did not deny to 
receive it, but that he thought the other way most 
proper. He then told me, as news, that his Catholic 
Majesty had received from the Emperor assurances, that 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 87 

whatever the King of England or the States should do 
to the Spanish Ministers in their dominions, the same 
should be returned to their Ministers at Vienna, so that 
now, said he, the dispute is between Schonenberg and 
the whole House of Austria. I replied, it did not become 
me to question a matter of fact his Excellency affirmed; 
however, I could not but think that it would be con- 
sidered whether the King of England and the States 
stand at present more in need of the Emperor, or the 
Emperor of them, and that such a threat would be 
executed accordingly. The Marques has been one of 
the most violent enemies in the Council of State against 
Monsieur Schonenberg, and cannot mention him, 
even to me, without passionate and scurrilous expres- 
sions. If ever he was an able man, as some say he was, 
he has quite outlived it, and would be, in any other 
country, thought wholly incapable of the station he 
is in. 



TO LORD LEXINGTON, AT VIENNA. 

Madrid, January 5, 1696. 

Your Lordship must have been informed from Eng- 
land how, in consequence of the refusal of this Court to 
re-admit M. Schonenberg, Sir Charles Cotterell was sent 
to forbid the Spanish ambassador the Court and King's 
presence, and told that no memorials should be received 
from him till His Majesty had that satisfaction from 
this Court : upon notice of which, on Saturday last, 
being the last day of the old year, the Conductor of 
ambassadors here was sent to me with the very same 



88 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



message., only changing of names, viz., that till His 
Catholic Majesty had satisfaction from the Court of 
England, for what was done to the Marques de Canales, 
his ambassador at London, he would receive no offices 
from me ; and further ordered me to forbear going to 
Court, or appearing in His Majesty's presence ; to which 
I answered, I should readily obey, and give an account 
thereof to the King, my master, as I did the same night 
by express. What will be the issue, I am not able to 
judge, till I have his Majesty's further orders, which, 
if they be as I expect for my return, I shall most 
willingly obey, after a full six years 3 absence from dear 
England, and in a country not the most pleasant to a 
stranger, only I should be glad, lest the common cause 
should suffer by the difference, that some expedient of 
accommodation may be found out. 



TO THE EARL OF GALWAY. 

Madrid, January 12, 1696. 

The Marques de Gastanaga caused lately to be appre- 
hended a French spy, and sent him with a guard to 
prison to Barcelona, where immediately the Inquisitor 
sends an officer to the prison to demand him. The 
jailor answered he was answerable to the Viceroy for 
his prisoner ; upon which, the Inquisitor immediately 
excommunicated the jailor, refused to admit any message 
from the Viceroy about him, slighting also the Bishop^ s 
applications. This raised a great tumult in the city, 
which was increased by advice that came about the 
same time, that the Justice of a village not far off 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



89 



having ordered a soldier to be quartered in a widow's 
house, whose husband, many years before, had been 
a familiar of the Inquisition, she pleaded the privilege, 
complaining to the Inquisitor, who, to punish this 
violation of the pretended right of the Holy Office, 
excommunicated the whole village \ which insolence, 
together with the other, was like to put the whole 
country in an uproar, and obliged the Viceroy and 
Bishop to despatch an express hither, with an account 
of these two cases, and that if a remedy were not speedily 
applied, the people would burn the Inquisitors, and pull 
down their houses : and this Court has thought it a 
matter of that consequence, that they have banished the 
chief Inquisitor of Barcelona out of all His Catholic 
Majesty's dominions. This is a punishment for what 
has passed ; and to prevent the like disorders hereafter, 
there is a Junta of ten persons appointed, namely two 
of the Council of State, two of Castille, two of Aragon, 
two of Italy, and two of the Indies, to regulate and 
reduce within more moderate bounds the exorbitant 
power exercised by that Office. This raises great expec- 
tations at present, but, like all other things in this 
country that pretend to reformation, will probably have 
no effect, and be laid aside in a few months. 



TO ADMIRAL SIR GEORGE ROOKE. 

Madrid, February 14, 1696. 

Orders are given and a fund settled for the setting 
out to sea the Spanish armada with all possible Spanish 
expedition ; they say there will be nine ships ; what they 



90 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

are you must know better than I. The Conde Fernan 
Nunez is to command them, whom I fear you will find 
a punctilious, capricious, troublesome gentleman. He 
has not scrupled to say before some of our merchants 
here, that when he came to Cadiz he would make you 
know him ; with which I thought it necessary to acquaint 
you, that by this character of the man you might the 
better know how to treat with him. For my part, I 
look on a Spanish armada to be such a set, that whether 
at sea or in port is equally indifferent to us. 



TO MR. JAMES VERNON. 

Madrid, February 29, 1696. 

There is a necessity you overcome all difficulties in 
reforming our coin, since you are so far engaged, and 
I hope that will, among other benefits, moderate our 
exchange, that has been of late intolerable, at least 
twenty-five per cent, higher than when I came here. 



TO MR. FRANCIS GODOLPHIN. 

Madrid, April 4, 1696. 

Of late your uncle* has been sometimes better, some- 
times worse, but is now drawing very near his end, if I 
may believe the relations of others who see him daily. 

I cannot hear he has, during all his illness, 

made the least mention of you or his family. The 

* Sir William Godolphin. He had been appointed British Minister to 
Spain in 1667 ; he afterwards embraced the Roman Catholic faith, and 
continued to reside at Madrid till his death, July 7, 1696. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 91 

disposition he has made is this : — first, he has made his 
soul his heir, a thing common with devout people here, 
by which pretence the church will lay claim to all his 
estate after legacies paid, to be employed in masses for 
his soul, of which he has already ordered six thousand 
to be said ! 



TO THE EARL OF GALWAY. 

Madrid, April 19, 1696. 

The Marques of Gastanaga cannot long continue in 
the government of Catalonia, having been of late much 
disordered in his head, fancying himself a Cardinal, and 
ordering his servants to pack up all things presently, to 
be gone to Rome, whither the Pope had sent for him 
in all haste. This the Court knows, with several other 
extravagances, and though since he has appeared in 
public with Spanish gravity, yet, whether they will think 
him fit much longer for that trust, time must tell us. 



TO THE EARL OF GALWAY. 

Madrid, May 3, 1696. 

The Marques of Gastanaga is dismissed from his 
government of Catalonia, and I am just now told that 
Don Francisco de Yelasco, Governor of Cadiz, is actually 
declared, which seems a strange choice, for though he 
may be a very worthy gentleman, yet he has seen as 
little of war as I have done. 

The Queen-Mother continues very ill with her cancer, 



92 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 



has put off all her physicians and chirurgeons, and 
delivered herself up to a seventh son, a holy man of the 
strictest celibacy ; who, by certain charms of prayers he 
uses, is said to have done wonderful cures. The Holy 
Office has approved him, which gives Her Majesty great 
confidence in him.* 



TO MR. JAMES VERNON. 

Madrid, May 8, 1696. 

No people know better how to deal with the Spaniards 
than their own neighbours, the Portuguese, who, having 
pretension to a little island at the mouth of the river 
Minio, which divides Portugal from Gallicia, and not 
being vouchsafed an answer in several years to their 

* Madame d'Aulnoy gives an account of such another holy man coming 
to Madrid, in 1679. "II est arrive ici un homme que Ton est alle cher- 
" cher jusqu'au fond de la Galice ; c'est un Saint qui, a ce qu'on pretend, 
" fait des miracles. La Marquise de Los Velez, autrefois Gouvernante du 
u Roi, a pense rnourir, et elle l'envoya querir proinptement, mais Ton a ete 
" silongtemps a faire ce voyage qu'elle a recouvre sa same sans lui L'on 
" savait le jour qu'il devait arriver et elle l'attendait, lorsque Don Fernaud 
" de Tolede, qui est son neveu, et qui n'avaitpu la voir depuis son retour 
" de Flandres, a cause de la maladie qu'elle avait eue, sachant qu'elle etait 
" beaucoup mieux, se rendit chez elle a 1'heure a peu pres que le Saint de 
" la Galice y devait venir. Les gens de la Marquise le voyant, et ne le 
" connaissant point, car il etait absent depuis plusieurs annees, crurent des 
" qu'il parut que c'etait le Saint ; ils ouviirent la grande porte, sonnerent 
" une cloche pour servir de signal, comme la Marquise le leur avait 
" ordonne : toutes les Duenas et les filles vinrent le recevoir avec chacune 
61 un cierge a la main ; il y en avait plusieurs qui se jetaient a genoux, et 
" qui ne voulaient pas le laisser passer qu'il ne leur eut donne sa benedic- 
K tion. II pensa devenir fou d'une telle reception ; il ne savait s'il etait 
" enchante ou s'il dormait ; et quoiqu'il put s'imaginer il n'etait point au 
" fait ; il avait beau parler, on ne Tecoutait pas, tant le bruit et la presse 
tt etaient grandes : on lui faisait toucher des chapelets, et celles qui etaient 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



93 



minister's memorials in that Court, about ten days ago, 
went with 300 men, and took possession of it by strong 
hand. 



TO THE DUKE OF SHREWSBURY. 

Madrid, May 8, 1696. 

There appears no amendment in the Queen-Mother, 
and it is generally believed she will not last long. At 
her desire there has been a great Council of State to 
consider of settling the Succession of the Crown, where 
it was resolved, that nothing could be done in so im- 
portant a matter without assembling the Cortes, or 
States of the kingdom, which it would not be safe to do 
without an army of 30,000 men ready to keep them in 
awe, lest they should grow troublesome and impertinent. 
This was carried by the Almirante, Condestable, and all 
the young Queen's party, who leaves nothing undone to 
hinder any such declaration of a successor. Her 
Majesty continues still under the care of her holy man, 
who is an idiot than can neither write nor read. 



TO MR. JAMES VERNON. 

Madrid, May 23, 1696. 

By what I writ you this day se'ennight of the 
Queen-Mother here, that she was only alive that night at 
eight, you would easily imagine she could not hold long. 

u eloignees les lui jetaient a la tete avec des centaines de medailles. Les 
" plus zelees coruinenc&rent a lui couper son manteau et son habit. Ce 
u fut alors qu'il eut la peur entiere, que pour multiplier ses reliques on ne 
" le taillat par morceaux!" (Voyage d'Espagne, vol. iii. p. 225. 
ed. 1699.) 



94 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

That very same night, a quarter before twelve, she 
died, just at the time the moon was clear of her eclipse. 
I saw her funeral pass out of town towards the Escurial 
last Sunday night ; it was by much the meanest of any- 
thing of that kind I had ever seen, and to excuse it they 
say she desired it should be so. 

There is now great noise of a miracle, done by a 
piece of a waistcoat she died in, on an old lame nun, 
who, in great faith, earnestly desired it, and no sooner 
applied it to her lips but she was perfectly well, and 
immediately threw away her crutches. This, with some 
other stories, which will not be wanting, may in time 
grow up to a canonization. 

The Queen has desired in her will that 50,000 masses 
should be said for her soul. 

His Majesty has given a decree that all his mother's 
ladies and women-servants should be received and main- 
tained in his own palace ; and new lodgings are ordered 
to be built near the Casa del Tesoro to lodge them. 



TO THE EARL OF GALWAY. 

Madrid, May 31, 1696. 

Don Francisco de Velasco has, on a third com- 
mand, accepted the government of Catalonia, and is 
daily expected here in order to his passage thither ; but 
whether it be he or any other, the case will be the same 
as to any direction of the Spanish army in that province, 
who, so long as they may be qmet, will never think of 
offending their enemies, however ready they are on all 
occasions to disoblige their friends. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 95 



TO THE DUKE OF SHREWSBURY. 

Madrid, June 20, 1696. 

Don Francisco de Velasco is come from Cadiz, in 
order to go to his government of Catalonia ; but refuses 
to stir till lie have six months' pay for the army there, 
settled upon good funds, a thing not to be done, and so 
the matter hangs. The government of Cadiz is sold to 
Don Francisco Miguel del Puego for 20,000 pistoles, 
part of which, I suppose, our merchants are to reimburse 
in time. 

The Queen is confidently said to be with child, by 
the declaration of four midwifes, although very few 
believe it. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, June 21, 1696. 

We talk here of nothing but a peace near concluded ; 
if it be on good terms, and such as may be lasting, I 
believe all parties would be glad of it ; and, however, at 
the worst I believe we and the Dutch shall recover by 
means of our great trade as soon as the French, who, if 
we may credit common fame, or judge by their present 
sueing, are at this time much lower than we are. 

Our weather was, ten days ago, as cold as Christmas, 
but is now excessive hot. 



96 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, July 19, 1696. 

Sir William Godolphin died here the 7th instant, 
was attended next night to his funeral by the Consejo de 
Estado in a body, and most of the foreign ministers ; 
such honour is done here to converts. He has left near 
18,000/. to his friends in England, of which twelve to 
his nephew now here, and among his children, and five 
to Mr. Charles Godolphin, my Lord's brother, and this 
gentleman's sister, his wife ; 5000/., found in money 
in the house, was in two days distributed among his 
servants by the Testamentarios, according to his appoint- 
ment. There appears about 5000/. more, which how to 
be disposed of is yet in the breast of his will-makers, for 
so I may call them, since they have power to declare it 
upon their faith, as he directed them by word of mouth 
in his lifetime. Mr. Godolphin is now in my house ; 
what by long watching with his uncle, the agitations of 
mind between hopes and fears, his jealousies of every- 
body that came near his uncle's bed, and the extreme 
heat of the season, so much disordered in his head, that, 
not knowing what to do with him, I have sent to his 
lady that she will please to come over herself, or send 
some proper person to take care of him. In the mean- 
time, he wants no help this place affords. This is all 
the legacy Sir William has left me, after two-and-forty 
years' acquaintance ; but it is no wonder, since our 
principles w r ere so different both in Church and State. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 97 



TO MR. JAMES VERNON. 

Madrid, July 25, 1696. 
The Queers pregnancy is now published so con- 
fidently^ that it begins to be believed. Her Majesty 
never stirs out of her chamber but carried in a great 
arm-chair, and so takes the air in the gardens of the 
Retiro. It is expected she will pass next Saturday from 
the Retiro to the Palace, in her sedan, publicly through 
the streets, which is to be so solemn a Declaration, that 
after that nobody is to doubt it. 



TO MR, JAMES VERNON. 

Madrid, August 22, 1696. 

The case is sadly altered with the poor Queen of 
Spain since mine to you this day fortnight; the 7th 
instant she made a collation with three of her ladies, in 
the evening, when they eat eel-pie and other cold meats 
and iced liquors, w T hich made them all sick, but put her 
Majesty into a most violent fever, with repeated con- 
vulsion fits, occasioned, as is now given out, by the 
medicines taken on supposition of her being with child. 

She has been now agonizing three days. Our Lady 
of Atocha and the body of St. Isidro, Patron of Madrid^ 
have visited her to no purpose ; and, by all accounts I 
have of her, she can scarce live out this night. The 
Court has provided his Catholic Majesty a third 
wife, the Emperor's daughter, being about fifteen years 
old. Poor lady ! if it be her fortune, I most heartily 
pity her. 



98 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, August 30, 1696. 

Mr. Godolphin is still with me, much better, yet 
far from well; now only insanus quoad hoc, his concerns 
with his uncle's Testamentarios, which is more trouble- 
some to me than when he was furious, for then my 
servants managed him as the case required, and now I 
am obliged to treat him with ceremony. I hope to be 
relieved in a fortnight by some person from his friends 
in England to carry him home. 

Never was worse weather for that distemper ; for of 
all the summers I have felt in my life, this has been and 
still is the hottest. I continue, nevertheless, I thank 
God, in very good health, though you must expect to 
see your old father much altered, as I shall you, as 
much for the better, as you me for the worse. 



TO MR. JAMES VERNON. 

Madrid, September 5, 1696. 
Her Catholic Majesty has been on the mending 
hand, as they say, these ten days, and is out of danger, 
as the Madrid Gazetteer tells us, attributing the honour 
of the cure to the Lady of Atocha, and the body of 
St. Isidro, Patron of Madrid, who both have been to 
visit her. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 99 

TO LORD LEXINGTON. 

Madrid, September 16, 1696. 
His Catholic Majesty has been extreme ill these 
seven days, which has stopped all couriers and expresses; 
but, thanks be to God, is now much better by taking 
the quinquine, yet not so safe as his good subjects wish 
him. 



TO THE DUKE OF SHREWSBURY. 

Madrid, September 19, 1696. 

The King's danger is over for this time, but his 
constitution is so very weak, and broken much beyond 
his age,* that it is generally feared what may be the 
success of such another attack. They cut his hair off 
in this sickness, which the decay of nature had almost 
done before, all his crown being bald. He has a raven- 
ous stomach, and swallows all he eats whole, for his 
nether jaw^ stands so much out, that his two rows of 
teeth cannot meet ; to compensate which, he has a 
prodigious wide throat, so that a gizzard or liver of a 
hen passes down whole, and his weak stomach not being 
able to digest it, he voids m the same manner. This 
King's life being of such importance in this conjunc- 
ture as to all the affairs of Europe, I thought might 
excuse these particulars, which otherwise would seem 
impertinent. 

* He was then only thirty-five years old. 



100 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECONIf, 



TO THE EARL OF GALWAY. 

Madrid, September 20, 1696. 

Ox the 14th instant the King solemnly made his 
will, much in the same substance as his fathers, Philip 
the Fourth, as to the succession to the Crown, which 
will be construed in favour of the young Prince of 
Bavaria. That morning the Conde de Oropesa sur- 
prised all this Court by appearing on a sudden in his 
riding habit at the bedchamber door, where he was soon 
admitted to kiss the King's hand, with great expressions 
of favour, and appointed one of the Governors of the 
kingdom in case of an interregnum, together with the 
Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, &c. This Conde' s 
coming in this manner, and being so received after five 
years' banishment, will make great changes at Court. 
The Cardinal* mediated the Conde's return with the 
King in his extremity as a point of conscience, and it is 
thought he has friends and address enough to maintain 
himself now he is here. 

* The famous Cardinal Porto Carrero, certainly the ablest of the Spanish 
statesmen at this time. Louis XIV., in his first instructions to his grand- 
son (December 3, 1700), advises him to place great trust and confidence 
in Porto Carrero. The difficulties and failures in the public business at 
Madrid afterwards made Louis think lightly of the Cardinal's talents ; and 
we find in the instructions to Count Marsin (July 7, 1701), u On croit 
a les intentions du Cardinal tres-bonnes, mais son incapacite est reconnue, 
u et la nation le meprise." But further experience and information soon 
brought back the King of France to his first opinion, and when Porto 
Carrero spoke of retiring, Louis most earnestly deprecated such a loss to 
his grandson's service. He wrote with his own hand to the Cardinal 
(February 4, 1703), pressing him tc remain ; and in a letter of the same 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 10] 



TO MR. JAMES VERNON. 

Madrid, October 3, 1696, 

His Catholic Majesty's health is so well confirmed, 
that the 1st instant all the Court and Foreign Ministers, 
except Mons. Schonenberg and myself, were to give 
him the hora buena of his recovery, in gaudy new 
clothes, and adorned with jewels. Since which these 
three nights have been nearly as light as the days, with 
luminaries, rockets, and all manner of fireworks. A 
Fiesta de Cartas is also preparing to be performed with 
great splendour, in the Plaza Mayor ; eight young 
Grandees being the undertakers, each contributing 1500 
pistoles. That the Queen is likewise past all danger 
needs no other confirmation than the Conde de Oropesa's 
going yesterday to His Majesty to desire his leave to 
retire again into the country, a favour which was imme- 
diately granted hinx, and he went out of town the same 
afternoon. 

date to Philip he observes, " I/essentiel maintenant est cTengager le Car- 
" dinal Porto Carrero a rentrer au despacho, ne fut-ce que pour six mois." 
Thus also next year, after Porto Carrero had persisted in resigning, Louis 
"writes to Philip, " Etablissez un Conseil sage et eclaire ; le Due de 
" Grammont vous nommera ceux que je crois capables de le composer." 
(August 20, 1704.) The very first of the names suggested by Grammont 
was Porto Carrero's. See the Memoires de Noailles, vol. iii. p. 227 
and 230. 



102 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO MR. JAMES VERNON. 

Madrid, October 31, 1696. 

The person from whom I received the inclosed paper, 
Don Francisco de Castillo, Marques of Villadarias, 
Governor and Captain General of Guipuzcoa, is a gentle- 
man much esteemed and honoured by the King our 
master for his behaviour in Flanders, and very forward 
to oblige all our nation within his jurisdiction.* 



TO THE DUKE OF SHREWSBURY. 

Madrid, November 14, 1696. 

When I writ to Mr. Vernon this day fortnight, His 
Catholic Majesty had been free from his fever about ten 
days ; but that same night it seized him again, and he 
has had his fit every day since, nor is he wholly clear in 
the intermediate space. Upon this second relapse, the 
public festival of bulls, cartas, &c, designed to celebrate 
his recovery, are suspended, although the scaffolds 
remain yet standing to entertain the people with hope 
and belief that he is not so bad, and the Grandees and 
Foreign Ministers were admitted into the King's bed- 

* This is the same General who so bravely defended Charleroy against 
the French, Ceuta against the Moors, and Andalusia against the English. 
This noble Spaniard had a true chivalrous spirit. Once, it is said, in a 
night attack, rinding an enemy's officer unprepared, and off his guard, yet 
unwilling to surrender, he offered him a sword to defend himself in single 
combat. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



103 



chamber on his birthday, His Majesty being in bed. 
The ceremony passed in a low bow, without a word on 
either side, which is represented to the people as if he 
were so well as to receive their compliments as usually. 
To the same purpose, they sometimes make him rise 
out of his bed, much against his will, and beyond his 
strength, the better to conceal his illness abroad. He 
is not only extreme weak in body, but has a great 
weight of melancholy and discontent upon his spirits, 
attributed in a great measure to the Queen's continual 
importunities to make him alter his will. 

I acquainted your Grace in a former, how in his 
first illness, he confirmed by his will, his father Philip 
IV.'s settlements, in reference to the succession ; 
which was, first to his son the present King ; then to 
the Empress, his daughter, whose grandchild is the 
present young Prince of Bavaria ; thirdly to the right 
heirs of the Emperor; and lastly, to the Duke of 
Savoy. This was, soon after his death, confirmed by the 
Cortes or States of the Kingdom in the most solemn 
manner, so that it will be no easy matter to alter it. 
Neither does the King seem at all inclined to do it : 
though no means will be left unattempted to compass 
it. The Queen having no children herself, desires it 
may go to one of her nephews at Vienna. The Queen 
of Portugal is in the same interest, and since that 
King despairs now which lately he hoped to obtain it 
for himself, he has sent instructions to his Minister 
here, to leave no stone unturned, in favour of the 
Emperor's party; to strengthen which also, the old 
Comte de Harrach, father of the young one here 



104 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

already > is expected with all possible speed from Vienna, 
with very considerable sums of rnoney, not only to be 
employed among the Grandees, as occasions may offer, 
but also to pay the Portuguese troops, who shall be ready 
to enter Castille, in defence of the Emperor's title, 
This I am assured upon my own certain knowledge, 
that the Portuguese Envoy is now soliciting this cause 
day and night, with the utmost diligence. The French 
party work more in the dark, although we may suppose 
they are not idle ; and I am afraid they will be the first 
at Madrid. If it should so happen, I hope they will 
give me as fair quarter as His Majesty gave Monsieur 
Barrillon at London. But there is yet another fear 
more immediate than that, I mean the rabble — which 
the Council of State have made no provision to prevent, 
here being no guards or forces to awe them. Yet they 
cannot but be sensible of the danger to which their 
Excellencies will be as much exposed as any, since all 
their late mismanagements lie at their doors, and bitter 
libels against them are printed and publicly sold about 
the streets * 



TO MR. CHARLES GODOLPHIN. 

Madrid, November 26 3 1696. 

The Testamentarios say, that they are obliged to 
bestow all the overplus of Sir William's estate, after the 
legacies particularly specified were satisfied, in pious 

and charitable works, for the benefit of his soul 

I hear great outcries in town against the Testamentarios 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 105 



for making large distributions to their own relations ; 
and it is thought the Vicario General of Madrid, as the 
proper Judge, will take cognizance of the matter, but 
what benefit you can draw thence I cannot see, since 
the Vicario will only dispose the money to some other 
use more pious in his opinion, 



TO MR. JAMES VERNON. 

Madrid, December 12, 1696. 
The disappointment of the supplies expected by the 
Flota puts the Conde de Adanero to the last shifts to 
find money, and as yet in vain, for the farmers and 
collectors of the revenues have absolutely refused to 
advance the half-year demanded of them ; rather choos- 
ing to throw up their farms. Thus no provision is or 
can be made for the defence of Catalonia next summer, 
whither, if the French come with a good force, it looks 
very probable they may have the same success they 
lately had in Piedmont : this country having no other 
party to take, being in the utmost impossibility of 
defending themselves, either by land or sea, and too 
insolently proud to have the least complaisance to any 
other who might do it for them. The French agents 
are very busy in making proposals that may tempt these 
people to admit of one of their Princes, of which, though 
I am not so distinctly informed as I desire, yet I cannot 
but mention one to you, that I have from a better hand 
than the rest, namely, that then King will undertake to 

f 3 



106 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



conquer Portugal and join it to Spain as a dependant 
on the Crown of Castille. This seems the more pro- 
bable, because, as I acquainted you formerly, Portugal 
has been so extremely busy in promoting the preten- 
sions of the Archduke Charles. 



TO MR. CHARLES GODOLPHIX. 

Madrid, December 26, 1696. 

Mr. Arthur has assured me from the Testamentarios 
(of Sir William Godolphin), that they would not give 
any of you a real more than what you know from the 
beginning. ... 3 As an instance whereby to judge 
what you may expect by fair means, my agent upbraided 
it to one of theni, Don Antonio Condoga, as a pitiful 
meanness in them that they would not give a charity to 
Mrs. Ehot, Sir William's aunt,, who sent them a most 
humble petition from Falmouth, attested by all the 
magistrates of the place that she was such a person. 
Condoga answered she was no Catholic; therefore it 
could be no charity ! 



TO THE MARQUIS OF NORMANBY. 

Madrid, January 9, 1697. 

This conjunction has awakened several pretenders 
to the succession, namely, the Emperor, France and 
Bavaria, whose ministers and agents here have omitted 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 107 

no possible practices for their several masters. The 
different titles to Castille and Aragon ; with their 
respective dependencies, may also bring on the stage 
some unthought-of candidates, there being some families 
descended from the old races of those Kings still 
remaining, particularly the Duke de Medina Celi, the 
present Viceroy of Naples ; but he is an unactive bigot, 
and incapable of entertaining such a thought, much 
more of succeeding in the attempt. The Marques de 
Leganez, Governor of Milan, is a brave gentleman, of 
courage and experience in war, sufficient to qualify him 
for a Duke of Milan ; but the great moderation of his 
temper will not, I believe, allow of so much ambition. 
They sent last year, very unsuitably to their old cautious 
politics, the Conde de Montezuma, Viceroy to Mexico. 
He married to his first wife a descendant from the great 
Montezuma, by whom he has two daughters. This 
seems an adventure these people would not have made 
in former ages, and were he a man of spirit they might 
repent it ; but having been bred of the long robe, 
without the least knowledge in arms, or spirit of gene- 
rosity in his nature, they think themselves very secure 
on that side. Whenever the occasion happens, it is more 
than probable the succession will not go all one way, 
but this mighty body be divided ; and that several of 
the parts, under another form, may come to be more 
considerable than now the whole is. 



108 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO MR. JAMES VERNON, APPOINTED SECRETARY OF 
STATE. 

Madrid, January 22, 1697. 

The present design is for a voluntary contribution, 
in order to which circular letters have been despatched 
to all the Grandes and Titulos, to desire then benevo- 
lence to relieve the present exigencies of the Monarchy. 
I do not hear any particular sum is demanded, but 
every man is left to the largeness of his own mind, or 
love to his country. It is expected afterwards that the 
same will be attempted with all degrees and conditions 
throughout the kingdom, which by the example the 
Grandees will give the rest, is not like to come to anv 
great matter. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, March 6, 1697. 
The Conductor of Ambassadors gave me a visit two 
days ago, a favour I had not received in above fourteen 
months, since he forbid me going to Court. He said 
he was neither bid nor forbid to come, but having a 
general order to acquaint all Foreign Ministers the 
King gave them leave to hunt in a wood four leagues 
distant, he thought it concerned me as well as the rest, 
since he did not find I was excepted. I must not omit 
the limitations of this favour, because some time or 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 109 



other they may be applicable to the Spanish Ministers 
in England, namely, only to my own person, without 
other company, and that I took neither dogs nor ferrets 
with me to destroy the game : — I answered him, as once 
before about three years ago, when he came to forbid 
me shooting, as he did to all others, that I hunted 
only the game in the market, where if it were not 
wanting I should be satisfied ; that, however, I highly 
esteemed any mark of His Catholic Majesty's favour ; 
but that, whenever I recurred to it, it should be for 
something more considerable than three or four conies. 
At parting he gave me leave to return his visit, which 
he would not admit of before when he came to forbid 
me the Court. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, April 3, 1697. 

His Catholic Majesty holds on mending, and appears 
abroad in public every day of tolerable weather. Last 
week he was five or six leagues out of town, hunting the 
wolf, where they did him the honour to say he killed 
seven wolves. He has a very sickly complexion and 
weak habit of body, notwithstanding these exploits. 

The two Viceroys of Mexico and Peru have had the 
change put on them in a pleasant manner. The Conde 
de Montezuma had passed a great sum of money for 
Mexico, and the Conde de Canete not less for Peru. In 
this confidence they both went to Mexico first, and 



110 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

were there to receive their last instructions at the opening 
a letter directed to the Bishop, who was Governor ad 
interim. When the letter was opened and read in the 
Council, they found that Montezuma was ordered by the 
King to pass to Peru, and Canete to remain Viceroy of 
Mexico. This seems to have been done upon a second 
thought that the name of Montezuma might still be 
dangerous among the Mexicans, especially being borne 
by a person who married a descendant of that great 
King, and has by her two daughters. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, April 10, 1697. 

The King is to go to Aranjuez on the 24th by advice 
of his Doctor, which I much wonder at, for it is, though 
a very pleasant seat, yet ill air and very agueish, inso- 
much that I have observed all the people that live there 
look like brown paper. But it is a place the Queen 
delights in above all others, and everything must be as 
she would have it. 

Her Confessor, a Capuchin, is now the most con- 
siderable person at Court, and takes great state on him, 
being consulted by all who have any pretensions. This 
morning, about nine, I saw Don Juan de Larrea coming 
out from his lodging in the Convent, whither he had 
gone early on foot, I suppose for greater privacy. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



Ill 



TO LORD CHANCELLOR METHUEN OF IRELAND. 

Madrid, May 29, 1697. 
A public Minister tells me a Propio is come this 
morning from Barcelona in four days ; that Monsieur 
de Vendome was at Gerona with 25,000 men, to which 
four more would be drawn out of then- garrisons ; that 
they had all preparations ready for a siege, and were 
marching directly to Barcelona, where was the greatest 
consternation imaginable ; that the useless mouths and 
things of the greatest value were sent out ; and that the 
Deputation of the City had been with the Captain 
General, desiring his leave to set up the standard of 
Santa Eulalia, patroness of that province, which is never 
done but in the extremest exigencies. He desired till 
next day to consider of it, because then, by ancient 
custom, the power of the Viceroy ceases, and the Govern- 
ment devolves into the hands of the natives. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, May .29, 1697. 
Yesterday came to town from Cadiz sixty mules 
laden with silver on the King's account. 



112 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, June 26, 1697. 

The Almirante de Castilla is fallen very much into 
disfavour with the King and Queen for setting up to 
outvie thern in his furniture, attendance, and all parts 
of state in his family, whereat the Queen, in particular, 
is so offended, that she has refused to see either him 
or his bride, whom in town they commonly call the 
Reyna nueva. This was very unexpected, and if it 
holds will make a great change in the management of 
affairs in this Court. 

All persons here are confident of success at Barcelona, 
and think they have the French in a net. I wish it 
prove so. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, July 3, 1697. 

They are here mightily crest-fallen in their confi- 
dence for Barcelona since last week, when, besides 
17 ; 000 men in the town, they had so many Miquelets, 
Somatenes, &c. without, who had taken all the posts 
by which the French could retreat, so that not a man of 
them should escape — but they are now sufficiently unde- 
ceived. The enemy invested the place, opened their 
trenches the 8th much nearer the place than otherwise 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



113 



they could have done, being sheltered by some religious 
houses, which the devotion of this country would not 
suffer to be pulled down. The garrison has made three 

or four sallies to no great purpose The bombs 

both by sea and land, have reached the city in all parts 
and burned 2500 houses besides many convents and 
churches, not sparing the great cathedral. All give the 
place for lost, although the French are so few as not to 
be able to make the whole circumvallation of it. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, July 17, 1697. 

The Queen's Confessor, a German Capuchin, has 
mediated an accommodation between Her Majesty and 
the iVlmirante, and she has made his peace with the 
King. All which was ratified two days ago by Her 
Majesty accepting a collation in the Almirante's gar- 
den, where he presented her with no mean jewel, and 
her ladies with other gallantries, in all, to the value of 
some thousands of doubloons. 

Count Harrach* has yet had no public audience, the 
style of his letter to the Queen being excepted against, 
wherein the Emperor gives her only Dilectio instead of 
SerenitaSyf as he always writ to the Queen Mother his 
sister. A courier is sent to Vienna upon this occasion. 

* The Austrian Ambassador. 

f Answering to the German titles LiebJen and Durchlaucht. See 
the Memoires de Bareith, vol. ii. p. 249. 



114 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, July 24, 1697. 

As we talk of nothing else here beside Barcelona, so 
you can expect little more from me It is cer- 
tain they have defended themselves beyond expectation, 
and seem still very courageous, yet if our squadron 
comes not suddenly to their relief, they must soon 

yield The Prince of Hesse is the idol of 

the Catalans, and if any thing save Barcelona it will be 
his being in it. 



TO MR. BLATHWAYTE. 

Madrid, August 1, 1697. 

Those in Barcelona write with great resolution of 
defending it by intrenchments, street by street, to the 
last man, and all speak wonders of the Prince of Hesse, 
who is every where to animate them. 

The Comte de Harrach made his entrance five days 
ago without any the least pomp or ostentation, like a 
man that goes to the essence of his business directly 
without ceremony, which yet I find is not so well taken 
by this ceremonious people.* 

* The ceremonies of an Ambassador's public entrance in 1664, are 
described in Lady Fanshawe's Memoirs. She explains as follows the form 
of a first visit : — " That afternoon the Duke of Albuquerque came to visit 
" me. As soon as he was seated and covered, he said, Madam, I am Don 
e< Juan de la Cueva. Duke of Albuquerque, Viceroy of Milan, of His 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 115 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, August 21, 169'. 

Barcelona began to capitulate, or Don Francisco 
de Velasco for them without their knowledge, the 30th 
of July. The 7th of August it was proposed by him to 
the inhabitants that they should give in their demands, 
which seeing no remedy, they very unwillingly did the 
day following. The 9th they writ their solemn farewell 
letter to His Catholic Majesty (I herewith send you a 
copy), which is a valuable paper, not only for its moving 
tenderness and great respect to the King, but as being, 
it may be, the only instance of a rich city expressing the 
utmost unwillingness to change masters, and rather 
choosing the greatest extremities than submit to a con- 
queror who offered them all the most advantageous con- 
ditions they could desire. The 10th, the capitulations 
were adjusted, and signed the next morning. The gar- 
rison was to march out the loth by the breach. All 
privileges are confirmed to the inhabitants who choose 

" Majesty's Privy Council, General of the Gallies, true Grandee, the first 
u Gentleman of His Majesty's Bedchamber, and a near kinsman to His 
" Catholic Majesty, whom God long preserve — and then rising up and 
iC making me alow reverence with his hat off said — These, with my family 
" and life, I lay at your Excellency's feet!" (Memoirs, p. 186, ed. 
1829.) However, this Duke appears to have been considered as too boastful 
by the Spaniards. In a pasquinade published about 1665, he is satirically 
repiesented as the author of an essay 4< On the Properties of " the Pump- 
kin !" — Las propriedades de la calaba$a t vanidad de vanidades, por 
el Duque de Albuquerque. (Mignet, Negociations de la Succession 
d'Espagne, vol. i. p. 451, ed. 1835.) 



116 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

to stay that they enjoyed under the King of Spain, 
except the Holy Office of the Inquisition, and the sanc- 
tuary of churches in cases of murder, which are two 
resolutions likely to be very sensible to the nature of 
these people, that they may not have all freedom to 
burn and murder one another ! 

The Prince of Hesse storms and rages, saying he could 
have defended the place a month longer, as it is believed 
he might.* 

His Catholic Majesty, to secure the minds of his 
good subjects in Aragon, has this day declared to the 
several Councils, that he will the next month march in 
person to Zaragoza, and all concerned ordered to be 
ready to attend him ; 500 horse are raising here, and 
all the saddlers and tailors in town are set at work in 
all haste. 1500 foot are also ordered to be raised, for 
which, and other charges of that expedition, many more 
men being to be raised in other parts, the Queen offers 
to pawn her jewels ; the Archbishop of Toledo, to rob 
several churches in Madrid, where considerable sums 
have been deposited as in safe and sacred places, and 
also to make bold with another treasure deposited in 
Toledo by a Saint, a former Archbishop, for some extra- 
ordinary exigency either of church or state. The reve- 
nue of the Bullas and Snbsidio Escusado paid by all 
churchmen, is besides declared to be from this time 
wholly appropriated to this war, and all anticipations 

* It appears that the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt was at the head of the 
garrison, and that Don Francisco de Velasco, as Captain General of Catalonia, 
commanded the army encamped in the neighbourhood. See Mr. Dunlop's 
Memoirs of Spain, vol. ii. p. 272 ; a trust-worthy and excellent work. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 117 

upon them to be postponed sine die, that is, never to be 
paid. Every body looks on the King's voyage as a jest, 
though the pretence will be used to raise several ways 
great sums of money, besides that the noise of it will 
much please the Aragonese for a little while, and all 
here believe for certain the general peace will be declared 
in less than two months. 



TO MR. BLATHWAYTE. 

Madrid, September 12, 1697. 

I fear the loss of Barcelona will make the terms of 
peace something harder for Spain ; but all people here 
do so vehemently thirst after it, that it will be welcome 
almost upon any terms. 

The discourse of the King's voyage to Zaragoza cools 
very much. 



TO MR. BLATHWAYTE. 

Madrid, September 27, 1697. 

You will not much care to hear that Maria cle la 
Cabe^a, wife to St. Isidro, patron of Madrid, is lately 
canonized, and declared as good a saint as her husband ; 
yet this news has been celebrated all the nights of this 
week with flambeaux, luminaries, helh, ?nogigangas,* &c, 

* According to Mr. Dunlop, mogigangas (or moxigangas) were " a 
" peculiar species of masquerade in which the performers dressed themselves 
a up as wild animals.*' Memoirs of Spain, vol. ii. p. 409. 



118 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

and toros are preparing for next month, whether we have 
peace or not. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, October 2, 1697. 

The day before yesterday arrived here two expresses, 
with the joyful news that the peace was signed ; * and 
it is already published in the Madrid Gazette, that 
Luxembourg, Barcelona, and all whatsoever taken since 
the beginning of this war, will be restored. This, you 
may believe, occasions no small joy in this Court, 
although the public demonstrations of it are deferred 
till the arrival of a kinsman of Ambassador Quiros with 
all particulars : who, being a fat gentleman, rides slowly, 
and is not yet come. 



TO LORD LEXINGTON, AT VIENNA. 

Madrid. October 11, 1697. 

This Court is so transported with joy for a peace, so 
far beyond their expectation, that, for these last ten days, 
we see nor hear nothing but public demonstrations of 
it, in all kinds. Their Catholic Majesties went yester- 

z The peace of Ryswick. All the French conquests in Catalonia and 
the Netherlands were restored to the Spaniards by the exertions of Wil- 
liam III., and from the views of Louis XIV. upon the whole Spanish 
succession. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 119 



day afternoon in great state, with a cortege of most of 
the Grandees, to their devotions of thanks at Nuestra 
Senora de Atocha; and we are to have a Fiesta de 
Toros the 24th of this month, which your Lordship 
knows, is the Spaniards' ne plus ultra of festivals. 



TO MR. BLATHWAYTE. 

Madrid, October 25, 1697. 

Their Majesties have been out of Madrid ten days, 
namely, at Alcala, in devotion to St. Diego of that place, 
whose body was brought to the King in his greatest 
extremity, and is thought to have had the greatest part 
in the miracle of his recovery. Thence they went, for 
one night, in their way, to Toledo, where they have 
been five or six days entertained with bullfeast, masca- 
rades, mogigangas, &c, and are expected back here 
after to-morrow. 

The Conde de Cifuentes, whom you must have known 
in Flanders by the name of Marques of Alconcher, 
going, about a fortnight ago, to complain to the 
Capuchin, the Queen's Confessor, of the ill offices the 
Almirante did him underhand in stopping all his pre- 
tensions, and expressing himself in very angry terms 
according to the heat of his temper, the good Father 
innocently, as is supposed, gave an account of all his 
discourse to the Queen and Almirante, who thereupon 
obtained a decreto from the King to banish him to a 
certain distance from Court. This Cifuentes having 



120 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



early notice of, absented himself from home, not to be 
notified with the decreto, and, in the meantime, sends a 
challenge to the Aimirante, who accepted it, choosing 
for his second his great friend and favourite, Don 
Francisco Truflos. The Duke of Infantado was to be 
second to the Conde, and time and place were appointed, 
but the matter was so ordered that the Aimirante and 
his friend were seized as they were going to the rendez- 
vous, upon notice whereof their adversaries retired to 
secure themselves in the Convent of San Francisco. 
The Duke, the next day, quitted the Sanctuary, and was 
allowed to appear at Court. The Conde, hearing it 
was debated in Coimcil to demand of the Prior to 
deliver him up, is since also gone thence, but absconds; 
and though three edictos have been published, com- 
manding him to render himself prisoner within three 
days in the Carcel de Corte, under the severest penalties, 
yet he appears not, but is privately in town, and swears 
nothing shall hinder him from killing the Aimirante. 
Several of his friends have used all possible arguments 
to convince him of his folly, but all in vain ; and it is 
from one of them I have this account. This makes the 
greatest subject of our present discourse, and all are 
expecting how it will end when the King and Aimirante 
return hither. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



121 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, October 30, 1697. 

The Almirante has solicited hard for the King's 
pardon to the Conde de Cifdentes, and I hear it is ad- 
justed that he is to be banished some leagues from 
Court for a short time, for form's sake, and that after- 
wards he shall be either General of the gallies of Spain, 
or have some other very good post, which is what he 
wanted, and has got by huffing the first Minister. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, November 13, 1697. 

The 6th instant, being His Catholic Majesty's birth- 
day, we had our Fiesta de Toros. It was very unfor- 
tunate, by many fatal accidents, four or five being killed 
upon the place. What is most lamented is the loss of 
Don Juan de Yelasco, one of the Toriadores, whose leg 
and thigh were ripped up by the bull's horn, as far as 
the groin, of which he died three days after. He had 
newly had the government of Buenos Ayres given him. 
The King has made his young son a Titulo de Costilla, 
and the Queen has sent for his daughter from Seville 
to be one of her Damas. 



G 



122 



SPAIX UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO MR. BLATHWAYTE. 

Madrid, December 11, 1697. 

We have a strange scene of affairs here ; the Almi- 
rante de Castilla, first Minister, retired to the Palace, 
where he lodges in the Prince of Spain's apartment, for 
fear of having his throat cut by a private gentleman, 
the Conde de Cifuentes, who appears every day in the 
streets, though the justice are in pursuit of him, and 
2000 doubloons offered to apprehend him, and pena de 
la vida to any who harbour or conceal him; as also all 
who are suspected to be his friends, seized, imprisoned, 
or banished. How this will end you must suddenly 
hear, for it is too violent to last long. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, December 18, 1697. 

The Conde de Cifuentes, since the last proclamation 
against him, has left Madrid, and sent another challenge 
to the Almirante, who continues still in the Palace. 
The Spanish paper I send you is very authentic, and 
will give you great light into that whole affair, as also 
let you see that Cervantes has not wholly reformed this 
nation, but that there are still Qirixoterias left among 
them. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



123 



TO LORD LEXINGTON, AT VIENNA. 

Madrid, January 2, 1698. 
This Court is not at all inclined to admit the offer 
of the Dutch troops to garrison their places in Flanders. 
They have consulted their theologians, who declare 
against it as a matter of conscience, since it would give 
great opportunities to the spreading of heresy. They 
have not yet sent their answer, but it is believed it will 
be in the negative, and that they will rather choose to 
lie at the mercy of the French as being Catholics. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, January 8, 1698. 

A pregon has been made three days successively by 
the common Pregonero, offering 2000 doubloons to 
whoever shall bring the Conde de Cifuentes in, either 
alive or dead. In answer to which he, or his friends 
for him, fixed upon the corner of the Carcel de Corte 
a new desafio to the Almirante, to meet him in the 
Swiss Cantons, sopena de ruin Cavallero, and over 
against it was pasted an answer framed for the Almi- 
rante, excusing himself that he could not meet that fair 
challenge, because he was en Palacio a la Carona del 
Rey.* This expression " carona" signifies the action 
of mothers or nurses when they put the child's face 
close to their own, to cherish and keep them warm. 

* " In the Palace, under the King's keeping.''* 
G 2 



124 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

The Prince of Darmstadt is preparing for Catalonia, 
and it is thne, for the great favours and honours heaped 
upon him in so short a time, have occasioned most 
bitter pasquinades, both against his cousin * and himself. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, January 15, 1698. 

Last week was proclaimed a pregon three several 
days, declaring the Conde de Cifuentes a bandito, and 
authorising anybody to kill him if he did not render 
himself in such a time, wherein some malicious people 
say the Almirante has a second intention, and that the 
question now is, whose bravoes can despatch their men 
first ? The King is not nice in diverting himself pub- 
licly with the Almirante' s fears ; for, one day last week, 
hunting the wild boar, the boar, being pursued by a 
rabble, made toward the King ; and the King called 
out to the Almirante to have a care of himself, for 
Cifuentes was coming ! 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, March 14, 1698. 

Our Court is in great disorder: the Grandees all 
dog and cat, Turk and Moor. The King is in a lan- 
guishing condition ; not in so imminent a danger as 



* The Queen. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 125 



last week, but so weak and spent as to kis principles of 
life, tkat all tkat I can hear is pretended amounts only 
to hopes of preserving him some few weeks, without any 
probability of a recovery. The general inclination as 
to the succession is altogether French ; their aversion 
to the Queen having set them against all her country- 
men ; and if the French King will content himself, that 
one of his younger grandchildren be King of Spam, 
without pretending to incorporate the two monarchies 
together, he will find no opposition either from Grandees 
or common people. By this account, you may imagine 
the French Ambassador * has not yet had audience, at 
which he is much dissatisfied, although, indeed, the 
King is not in a condition to give it, speaking very 
little, and that not much to the purpose. The terms in 
which they express it to me is, that he is emltltcado. 

atolondradoj and dementado He fancies the 

devils are very busy in tempting him. 



TO THE EARL OF PORTLAND, AT PARIS. 

Madrid, March 14, 1698. 

The King is so very weak, he can scarcely hft his 
hand to his head to feed himself; and so extremely 
melancholy, that neither his buffoons, dwarfs, nor 
puppet-shows — all which have showed their abilities 
before him — can in the least divert him from fancying 



* The Marquis, afterwards Duke, of Harcourt. 



126 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

everything that is said or done to be a temptation of 
the devil, and never thinking himself safe but with his 
Confessor, and two friars by his side, whom he makes 
lie in his chamber every night. 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, March 19, 1698. 

The Cardinal of Toledo and the Conde* had, the 9th 
instant, a very hot dispute about sending the soldiers 
out of town ; the Cardinal for, and the Conde against 
it — which happening in the ante-chamber to that where 
the King lay, he heard them talk very loud, a thing so 
unusual, that he was much frighted at it, crying out, 
they were coming to kill him, and called presently for 
his Confessor and doctors, though it appears they did 
him very little good, for he has daily grown weaker, 
both in body and mind, ever since. The Queen enter- 
ing at the same time, and hearing the cause of the 
King^s disturbance, fainted away. The next morning 
the King asked the Conde de Monterey, the Queen and 
Oropesa being present, his opinion as to the keeping or 
sending away the Regiment. The Conde would have 
diverted the discourse ; but the King positively com- 
manding him to answer, he declared plainly, he did not 
think those soldiers either necessary or convenient to be 
in Madrid. The Queen took him up, saying, it was no 
new thing, having been practised formerly by the 



* De Oropesa. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 



127 



Queen-Mother. The Conde answered, it was in the 
time of the King's minority, but the case was very 
different now. She said, all the difference was in the 
hatred they had to her person. The Conde replied, it 
was true, indeed, her Majesty had done some things 
that were not much applauded; upon hearing which 
she again fell into a fainting-fit ; and the Conde was no 
sooner got home than he found an order from the King 
to confine him to his house, as his prison, where he 
remains still confined, but daily visited, ever since, by 
most of the Grandees and Councillors of State. Not- 
withstanding this example, the Council met the same 
afternoon, and ordered the soldiers all to march away 
next day for Toledo, as accordingly they did. The 
Cardinal of Toledo is not satisfied with this yet, declares 
he will never be quiet till he has driven the Conde de 
Oropesa, the Alinirante, the Queen's Confessor, and her 
German lady and favourite, the Countess of Berlips, 
out of Madrid. 



TO THE DUKE OF SHREWSBURY. 

Madrid, April 16, 1698. 

The King's journey to Toledo holds still for the 
25th of this month, if he be able to bear it, which is 
much feared. He would probably mend faster if they 
would let him be quiet ; but two great factions, pressing 
him continually by turns to their different purposes, 
make him very uneasy. 

The French Ambassador is very much offended he is 



128 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

not admitted to see the King ; complaining that when 
he sends every morning to know how His Majesty rested 
and how he does, they answer (as to everybody) that he 
is very well; but always, when he desires a private 
audience, they tell him he is very ill, and not in a con- 
dition to receive him ! 

This day was published a decreto to forbid the sale of 
offices for the future, and to declare null all grants of 
reversions. 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, April 30, 1698. 

The French Ambassador had, the 18th instant, his 
first private audience, at which assisted the King's 
Interpreter. It was by candle-light; and the only thing 
I hear remarkable was, that there being only two lights 
in the chamber, both upon the same table, the King, 
when he received the Ambassador, stood with his back 
to the table, as is supposed on purpose so that the 
Ambassador might not see his face, nor how wretchedly 
he looked. All the foreign Ministers pressed to have 
attended his Majesty to Toledo, but were denied. 



TO MR. METHUEN, AT LISBON. 

Madrid, May 15, 1698. 

This moment I write to you, our weather is as cold 
as any time in the winter : the vines are generally 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 129 



frozen, and corn in a most miserable condition for want 
of rain, the little we have had being come too late, so 
that we are like to want both bread and wine ; and as 
to the flesh we have eat these three months, it has been 
all carrion. 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, May 21, 1698, 

On Saturday last, the 17th, an Alcalde de Corte 
came with an order from the President of Castille in the 
King's name to the Marquesa de Gadagne, a French 
lady here, commanding her to leave Madrid in twenty- 
four hours, and retire thirty-six leagues from Court. 
She complied in going out of town within the term; but, 
feigning herself sick, stays a league off, hoping some 
moderation to her sentence from the diligences of her 
friends at Toledo. The story of this lady, as short as I 
can, is that being at Rome in the war of Messina, she 
had two gallants ; one of them Secretary to the French 
Ambassador, the other a gentleman belonging to the 
Spanish Ambassador. Whether it were for interest, or 
that she liked the Spaniard better, she picked out of 
the Frenchman's pocket letters containing secrets of 
great importance, and gave them to the Spaniard, which 
being discovered, she could no more return to France • 
and the sendee she did Spain by that treachery was 
thought so considerable, that she has had here ever 
since a pension of 1200 pistoles a year, and not ill paid. 
Yet, after all this, her inclinations have appeared, by all 

g 3 



130 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

her behaviour since I am here, to be most visibly French, 
insomuch that it has always been much suspected she 
has a pension on that side also. All the time of the 
war, the cabals of that faction were held at her house ; 
and of late the French Ambassador, he of Savoy, and 
the Condestablesa of Colonna, with one Madame Salcado, 
widow to a Spaniard, formerly Envoy in England, with 
others of that party, were almost every night there, on 
pretence of enjoying the fraicheur of a very pleasant 
garden the Marquesa has near the Prado. What her 
crime is I cannot hear certainly ; but the report is, that 
some letters she sent to France have been intercepted, 
and drawn down this misfortune on her.* 

The French Ambassador has not only offered verbally, 
but presented a letter from his master, written with his 
own hand, to the King of Spain, to offer him what ships, 
galleys, and landmen he shall think necessary to relieve 
Ceuta, and beat away the Moors. The proposal has 
been lately debated in the Council, but I do not hear 
anything is yet resolved, though the place be daily more 
and more pressed, and they take here very little care to 
assist and reinforce the garrison. The Marques de 
Villadarias, the new Governor, arrived here two days 
ago from St. Sebastian, and is making all haste thither. 

* Twenty years afterwards we find a Prime Minister of France, Abbe 
Dubois, carrying on bis intrigues at Rome, under tbe cant name of Madame 
de Gadagne. Was it witb any reference to the lady mentioned in this 
letter? See tbe Memoires de Sevelinges, vol. i. p. 282. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



131 



TO MR. METHUEN, AT LISBON. 

Madrid, May 23, 1698. 

Our Conde de Cifuentes was last week in Madrid, at 
which his friend Oropesa was very angry, and intimated 
to hirn to be gone speedily ; there is no hope of accom- 
modating that affair, our new President having done 
since his entrance nothing I can hear of, but the noble 
exploit of banishing the poor old lady.* 



TO MR. YARD, UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE. 

Madrid, May 28, 1698. 

Their Majesties are expected here the beginning of 
next month, the Queen being very uneasy at the impu- 
dent railleries of the Toledo women, who affront her 
every day publicly in the streets, and call the Almirante 
Gallina to his face.f There is besides great want of 
money ; for the King's new Confessor, having persuaded 
him, before he left Madrid, to publish a decree, forbid- 
ding the sale of all governments and offices, either in 
present or reversion, as a duty of conscience, the Conde 
de Adanero, who is Supra-intendiente de las Ilentas 
Reales, declares he is not able to find money for his 
Majesty's subsistence, all branches of the revenue being 

* Madame de Gadagne. 

t It appears from a passage of the Spanish Casuist Diana (tr« 14, R. 99, 
as quoted in the Septieine Provinciale), that Gallina (hen, or, according 
to our phrase, chicken-hearted,) was the term of reproach usually shouted 
out against any one who had refused to fight a duel. 



132 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



anticipated for many years, and he is now debarred by 
this decree from beneficiating offices, which, was the only 
resource he had left ; therefore has desired he may lay 
down his employment. 

The difference between the Almirante and Conde de 
Cifuentes is now in a fair way of adjustment, the former 
being ordered to render himself in a castle called 
Badores, not far from Toledo, and the Conde at Yalla- 
dolid, there to expect the King's pleasure. The Conde 
de Oropesa has contrived this expedient, and both parties 
have consented to it. 



TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR METHUEN OF IRELAND. 

Madrid, June 11, 1698. 
I hear Mr. Methuen mightily extolled both by 
English and Portuguese, so that I may venture to say 
the son has behaved himself as well at Lisbon, as the 
father in Ireland ; and really I think I cannot encarecer 
mas. And if I could, I know you would easily pardon 
me. Pater a filio vinci gaudet, is a saying I never 
knew fail but in one instance, namely, the Conde de 
Cifuentes, father of the present who has made so much 
noise. He, when he heard any person commend his 
son's bravery, fell presently into a hectoring passion, 
crying out, Boto a Christo, por valiente que sea, no puede 
ser mas valiente que su padre ! * — But whither am I 
running ? Pardon this excursion, Sir, and be assured 
that I am, &c. 

* "I swear that, however brave he may be, he cannot be more brave 
than his father ! " 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



133 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, June 11, 1698. 

Our French Ambassador makes a mighty flutter ; 
his family all French ; not a Golilla among them ; 
commonly sends two expresses a week, always by his 
own servants, never trusting a letter in Spanish hands ; 
has taken of our merchants in three months 8000 
doubloons, though makes no visible expense, all his 
equipage coming from France and expected by sea at 
Alicant, nor is his lady and greatest part of domestics 
yet arrived. He makes of late great advances to me, 
having visited me twice this last week. 

What I can discover of these people's inclination is 
for a French Prince, provided they can be assured the 
same shall never be King of France. By that choice, 
they think they shall secure peace and quietness at 
home ; but they would rather have the devil than see 
France and Spain united. It is scarce conceivable the 
abhorrence they have for Vienna, most of which is owing 
to the Queen's very imprudent conduct, insomuch that, 
in effect, all that party is included in her own person 
and family. They have much kinder thoughts for the 
Bavarian, but still rather desire a French Prince, for 
the reason aforesaid, to secure them against a war 
which they see cannot be avoided in either of the other 
choices. 



134 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, June 11, 1698. 

The King will not bear to hear talk of business of 
any kind, and when the Queen sometimes cannot 
contain herself, he bids her let him alone, and says she 
designs to kill him. His greatest diversion when abroad 
is to entertain himself alone with any country people he 
meets, ordering his attendants to keep at a distance, as 
he lately did with a gardener whom he asked, whether 
there were any if obstructions " in the country there- 
abouts, which it seems the Doctors had told him wa^ 
his disease. The honest gardener innocently answered 
he did not know what they were, nor whether there 
might be any in that country, but this he was sine, that 
he had never planted any of them in his garden ! — with 
which naivete the King was much pleased, and as such 
related it to his Courtiers when they joined him. He 
leaves Toledo this day, and is expected here to-morrow. 

Eio-ht of the galleons are safe arrived at Cadiz. The 
Vice Admiral and four more are yet wanting, which 
gives the more care, because we have had no express in 
four days since the first, and those arrived are so rotten 
and weather-beaten, that it is looked on as a miracle 
they could swim so long. If all come safe they bring 
thirty millions of pieces of eight that are registered, 
and besides there is never less than half so much in 
private trade. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 135 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, June 25, 1698. 

Our Gazettes here tell us every week His Catholic 
Majesty is in perfect health, and it is the general 
answer to all who inquire of him. It is true that he is 
every day abroad, but hceret lateri lethalis arundo ; his 
ankles and knees swell again, his eyes bag, the lids 
are as red as scarlet, and the rest of his face a greenish 
yellow. His tongue is travada, as they express it, that 
is, he has such a funibhng in his speech, those near 
him hardly understand him, at which he sometimes 
grows angry, and asks if they be all deaf. 

The Almirante was ordered to stay behind the King 
at Toledo, by the Cardinal of Toledo's persuasion, with 
a troop of horse for his guard against Cifuentes, but 
Her Majesty has since prevailed for his return — Llora, 
mtu/er, y veneer as I # — and he came hither four days ago, 
accompanied with about a hundred horse. 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, June 29, 1698, 

The French Ambassador has officers in his family 
- — Brigadiers, Colonels, Majors, &c, sufficient to com- 
mand a little army, and new ones daily coming, whose 
business cannot be only curiosity to see this country, 

* " Weep, woman, weep, and triumph shall be thine \ n 



136 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

but to be ready on all occasions. They seem to have 
already besieged Spain both by sea and land, by con- 
siderable bodies of troops, ready on all the frontiers, 
and eighteen galleys, with twelve men-of-war, expected 
hourly from the Levant at Cadiz, and twelve or more 
ships from the north to join them. The Governor of 
Cadiz, Don Miguel del Puego, is by all reports a man 
of great honour, but for all the rest of the Governors of 
these ports and coasts, if then own countrymen, who 
know them, may be credited, there is not one man of 
them that can find in their heart to resist the tempta- 
tion of 500 pistoles. 

The King was this morning in Golilla at his 
chapel in public, and heard a sermon, this being 
St. Peter's day. The name the doctors give to his 
disease is alfereza insensata, which sounds in English, 
a stupid epilepsy, and they tell us, he continues ex- 
tremely dull and stupid. 

The Councillors of State, and all the great Officers, 
seem to be in a more stupid lethargy than their Master, 
resolve on nothing, but are at great dissensions one 
with another. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, June 29, 1698. 

The 25th after dinner the King retired with the 
Queen on pretence of siesta, and were locked up together 
about an hour : in the course of the evening they went 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 137 

to the Casa del Campo— where the King walked several 
turns in the garden, and returning about eight, as he 
passed the river, complained of a swimming in his head 
— but it soon went over, and he supped as usual 
without anything remarkable or extraordinary, either in 
the quality or quantity of what he eat. Some time 
after supper, at near ten, he went into his oratory to 
his private devotions, attended by the Duque de Uzeda, 
the gentleman in waiting, where he had not been long 
before he cried out to the Duke to hold him, for he was 
falling, as he did immediately in the Duke's arms, 
deprived of all sense, and so continued a quarter of an 
hour ; he no sooner returned a little out of the first, 
but was seized by a second fit, and after by a third ; in 
one of the two latter he remained about three-quarters 
of an hour. 



TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR METHUEN OF IRELAND, 

Madrid, July 9, 1698. 

There is not the least hopes of this King's recovery, 
and we are every night in apprehensions of hearing he 
is dead in the morning, though the Queen lugs him out 
abroad every day, to make the people believe he is well 
till her designs are ripe, which I rather fear will prove 
abortive, for by the best informations I can get of the 
three pretenders, her candidate is like to have the fewest 
votes. Upon old Comte de Harrach's pressing the 
King to have the Archduke Charles sent for to Spain, 



138 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



and when that would not go, that he might be made 
Governor of Milan, and Prince Yaudeniont his Lieu- 
tenant^ he gave no answer, but turning to the Queen 
who was present, said; laughing, oyga, muger* el Conde 
aprieta mucho* repeating three or four times the 
aprieta mucho. The French Ambassador does no less 
aprietaV) and the Xuncio also in the Pope's name in 
favour of the French. This has occasioned a discourse 
of calling Cortes Generales to declare and settle the 
succession, which I look on only as a present shift of 
the Counsellors of State, but never intended, for they 
see themselves lost without resource, and when the 
Lance happens, resolve to submit to the disposal of 
Divine Providence, having none at all of their own ! 



TO HIS SON. JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, July 9, 1698. 

His Majesty has had no sensible alteration since his 
great fit I wrote you by the last express. He is made 
to go abroad every day, though he looks like a ghost; 
and moves like an image of clock work. They talk of 
a diet of hens and capons, fed with vipers' flesh. 



* " Listen, Madam, how pressing is the Count !" 



SPAIX UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



139 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, July 9, 1698. 

The Almirante, since his return from Toledo, is 
made an Admiral indeed, and Generalissimo of all the 
forces of Spain by sea, with the title of Principe de la 
Mar, given to the late Don Juan de Austria when he 
ruled all here. 



TO HIS SOX, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, July 23, 1698. 

The French gain, and the Germans visibly lose 
ground every day. The French Ambassador's lady is 
huzzaed as she passes the Plaza and Calle Mayor. Ah 
que linda, ah que hermosa que esta ! Dios la bendiga ! 
and to the Ambassador, Viva el Senor Ambajador de 
Vrancia ! These I look on as artifices industriated, yet 
their being well received shows the people's inclination. 
The lady, whom I have visited, is very well behaved, 
and seems a very proper person to manage a Court 
intrigue. She is already the Queen's favourite, who is 
extremely charmed with her gaiety and free humour, so 
different from the starched gravity of the Spaniards. 



140 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, July 23, 1698. 
Here is a report that our new French lady has 
sweetened Her Majesty by a proposal that she may still 
continue Queen of Spain by a second marriage in 
France. It is not impossible, and our Holy Father 
the Pope will not be difficult to grant a dispensation. 

The Venetian Ambassador did, the day before yester- 
day, an action so extraordinary, as I cannot omit ac- 
quainting you with it. Having dismissed one of his 
pages, he ordered him to strip and leave his clothes 
behind him, which not being the custom here with 
servants above stairs, the page in a passion took a pair 
of scissors, and snipped them full of holes, sending 
them in that manner up to his master ; after which he 
immediately retired to a convent not far from the house. 
When the Ambassador heard the story and saw the 
clothes, he called his servants together, charging them 
to bring him that rogue, alive or dead : they, in obe- 
dience to his Excellency's commands, armed with pistols 
and carbines, haste to the convent — enter the cloisters 
— -find the page, who shelters himself behind a Mar; 
the friar protected him — one of the pursuers presented 
a pistol to his breast, which flashed in the pan, but by 
good fortune did not go off; however, the generous 
friar, in the scuffle, was a little hurt in the face. After 
this, more friars got together, and upon ringing their 
bells, which drew the Duque of Abrantes' family, and 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 141 

the rest of the neighbourhood came to their assistance, 
so the Ambassador's servants were forced to retire as 
they could, one of them being very well beaten. The 
friars have complained to the King, the Nuncio, and 
Presidente de Castilla. The Ambassador excuses him- 
self by denying he gave any such order. Nothing is 
yet done, nor is it known what will be, although one 
told me this afternoon, that, passing along the street, he 
heard people saying, fC This Ambassador deserved much 
" more to be banished than M. de Schonenberg.'" 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, August 6, 1698. 

The Queen has pressed the King very hard to make 
the young Comte Berlips a Grandee of Spain, which 
put him much out of humour ; he resolutely withstood 
her importunities, even those of her tears, which they 
say flowed abundantly upon the refusal. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, August 6, 1698. 

Besides the Portugal Envoy, M. Coque, Envoy of 
the Elector of Mayence, has positive orders from his 
Master to visit no Ambassador without an hour ap- 
pointed for visits of ceremony. 

Comte Harrach and I cannot agree to meet upon that 



142 



SPAIX UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



punctilio, though he has been very industrious and 
importunate with me to admit an expedient of seeing 
one another in a third place. The pretence was to 
confer about a new office he is going to pass in this 
Court, in order to the King our Master's satisfaction in 
the business of M. Schonenberg. M. Adam Selder, 
Secretary to the Embassy, whom you know, brought 
me the messages. I disowned any commission, instruc- 
tions, or knowledge of what would satisfy His Majesty 
in that matter, and therefore excused giving my opinion; 
adding, that I could say no more to the Comte, and 
therefore begged his pardon for not meeting him. 
Selder returned again and again, still pressing me from 
the Comte for an interview, proposing it might be in 
the midway betwixt Madrid and Fuencarral ; and that 
to avoid all pretences of ceremony, neither should stir 
out of his coach, but send off the servants while we 
should discourse. Overcome by these importunities, I 
at last consented to meet him in that manner, always 
declaring I would offer nothing on my part, and only 
hear what he should propose, to give an account thereof 
to the King my Master. Last Sunday in the evening, 
betwixt five and six, was the time appointed. I arrived 
first, and soon after the Comte came a large trot after me, 
"When he was two coach lengths behind me, I stopped, 
believing he would come up close to me and do so too, as 
was our agreement . Instead of which, he passed on by me 
the same pace, and we only saluted one another at about 
ten yards distance. I fancied either he did not think the 
place convenient, as being too public, and so went on to 
find one properer, there to stay for me as I had done 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 143 

for him, or that he meant to turn about and come back, 
so that we might meet face to face, which made me 
still follow him, he going his great trot, and I gently at 
a distance after him, till I saw him turn off on the right 
hand a by-way to the village of Chamartin, where he 
entered into the Duke of Pastrana's house,* and imme- 
diately into the gardens, which standing high, we saw 
him walking there, as we came along the road after him. 
Till then I understood not his meaning, which was, that 
it should be thought I went there to visit him, and not 
he to meet me upon equal terms, as he had agreed, and 
instead of following him to the house, as he expected, I 
turned off by another road straight back to Madrid, leav- 
ing him to enjoy the pleasure of his garden to himself. 
Next morning he sent Selder to me again to excuse the 
misunderstanding; that the reason of his going on to that 
garden was in order to the greater privacy of our con- 
versation, where the servants might think it an accidental 
meeting, nor the people in the road take notice of it. 
I asked Selder whether he had proposed to me to meet 
in the public road, and discourse without coming out of 
our coaches ; and, contrary to my expectation, he was so 
ingenuous as to own it. I asked him, then, whether 
the Comte took notice that I stopped my coach when he 
came near me ; he told me yes. I asked him what he 
could think the meaning of that to be, unless to comply 
with our agreement, for otherwise I should not have 
stopped to have let any coach pass, except the King's. 
He could only reply that the Comte thought he did for 

* The same bouse which was occupied by Napoleon in 1808.- 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



the best in choosing a private place, but that since we 
did not then understand one another, he desired I would 
give him another meeting, and that it might be in 
Mr. Artker's house. That, I confess, put my patience 
to the utmost trial. I told him one trick was sufficient, 
and that I would not expose myself to a second desayre ; 
that I wished the Comte success in his negotiation, but 
would never have anything more to do with him upon 
that account. This Lance is now the discourse of 
Madrid in all companies, who are so kind as to judge 
que 7/0 he quedado lien, y que csta clavado el Conde, by 
my leaving him planted hi the garden, and refusing to 
have anything more to do with him. I am of opinion 
our differences will never be composed by the German 
mediation, and am sure Comte Harrach is so abhorred 
here, that everything he meddles in fares the worse, and 
I take the Comte also to be a man of tricks, that is, in 
a gross German way. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, August 15, 1698. 

Comte Harrach, the father, takes to-morrow his 
audience of leave, and two days after the son makes his 
entrada, who is not like to mend matters for his 
Master's interest, which if possible, daily grows worse 
and worse, and I more confirmed in the opinion I have 
formerly given you. The French Ambassador dares ail 
this Court as a hawk does larks. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 145 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, September 3, 1698. 

The Conde de Oropesa is ill of a fever, not without 
some danger ; they say it was occasioned by insolencies 
done towards him in the streets, and satirical verses 
sung nightly under his windows, wherein, among other 
things, they threatened they would fry him in his own 
oil, of which commodity, it seems, he has a great maga- 
zine, reserved till the present time of scarcity. 

The French Ambassador has demanded to have his 
Hospidaje, that is^ to be treated nine days in a house 
designed for that purpose at the King's charge. This 
is a custom that has been many years antiquated here, 
except with Turks, Moors, and Muscovites ; however, it 
is granted him. Both he and his lady behave them- 
selves with great popularity, and squandering of money 
on all occasions, so that they are the idols of the com- 
mon people. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, September 17, 1698. 

I will conclude with a pleasant story received last 
post from Cadiz, that the King of Mequinez has writ a 
letter to the Parliament of England, to persuade them 
to call back and re-establish the late King James, and 

H 



146 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

then lie will make peace and a treaty of commerce with 
them ; that it is true indeed he has been an idolater by 
turning Papist, but that, upon their representing to 
him his error, he will be so no more ; and that they 
ought not to force him to wander in a strange land, 
but recall him home, that he may be buried in the 
sepulchre of his fathers ! I am promised a copy, 
and may send it you; the phrase is very natural 
Mahometan Mequinez. 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, September 17, 1698. 

Her Majesty is now as much in the French interest 
as she was before in the German, having received all 
imaginable assurances from Paris that, whatever may 
happen here, she shall still continue Queen of Spain, 
nor do I write this without very good grounds. * 



TO MR. BLATHWAYTE. 

Madrid, October 9, 1698. 

Consul Parker writ me last post from the Coruna, 
that the Commisario of the Inquisition came to him 

* So far from these promises being fulfilled, we find in the King of 
France's very first instructions to his grandson : " N'ayez de commerce 
" avec la Reine Douairiere, que celui dont vous ne pourrez vous dispenser : 
" faites en sorte qu'elle quitte Madrid ; observez sa conduite, et empechez 
" qu'elle ne se mele d'aucune affaire !" — See the Mem. de Noaille9, 
vol. ii. p. 9. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 1 17 

and the Dutch Consul, being together, and showed them 
an order from the Chief Inquisitor of St. Iago to know 
what heretics there were in that city, and what religion 
they professed. He does not say what answer they 
gave him, only that if they should proceed to anything 
further he would advise me. 



TO THE EARL OF JERSEY, AMBASSADOR AT PARIS. 

Madrid, October 10, 1698. 

I shall esteem it a great favour if your Excellency 
pleases to let me know sometimes by your Secretary 
what passes in your Court, for their Gazettes only tell 
us where the King, Dolphin, and Duke of Burgundy 
hear mass and vespers. 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, October 15, 1698. 

Our French Ambassador and his Lady are much 
sunk in the favour both of Court and people, living now 
at home in as great solitude as before they were crowded. 
The chief occasion of which I take to be the better 
hopes of the King's recovery, and that they are not 
likely so soon to fall into his Master's hands. 

The favourable change in the King is attributed to a 
plaster an Aragonese doctor has applied to his stomach, 
which is renewed every week, and has much strength- 
ened his digestion. Or rather what I believe has 

h 2 



148 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

done it more is, that he has of late drank two or three 
glasses of pure wine every meal, whereas he had never 
taken anything before in all his life but water boiled 
with a little cinnamon ♦ 

Old Comte Harrach left Madrid the day after his 
son's entry, without having accomplished any one thing 
he came for. The last denial he had was the recalling 
the Bishop of Solsona from the embassy at Vienna, 
which he pressed very hard ; thus it appears this Court 
can think fit to maintain their own Minister in other 
Courts, against the inclinations of the Princes with 
whom they reside, though they exclaim so much against 
our King's pretending to do it with them in the person 
of M. de Schonenberg. 

The Council of War have made a representation to 
the King, how unusual a thing it is, and how deroga- 
tory to their honour and authority, to give the Almi- 
rante such an absolute power, without appeal, over the 
two regiments of those horse as is specified in the 
Decreto I lately sent you ; to which the King only 
answered he had resolved it. 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, October 29, 1698. 
The ways between the Coruna and Madrid in winter, 
what by snows or floods, are oftentimes impassable for 
some weeks together, insomuch that I have been seven 
and eight weeks without receiving a letter from England, 
whereas I have never known the French post retarded 
above four or five days. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 149 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, November 12, 1698. 

The Almirante's Lady lias been several days giving 
up the ghost ; and to his greater discomposure, the 
Conde de Cifuentes has lately wrote him a letter, of 
which I may possibly send you a copy, that he has 
spared him all this time only in respect to his lady, and 
that so soon as she is dead he will take his revenge as 
he can ! Upon this warning the Almirante has enter- 
tained twenty-four Keformados, who are constantly in 
his house day and night, as a guard for his security. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, November 12, 1693. 

The King of Spain mends to a miracle in all weathers. 
We have had this fortnight a most severe winter of rain, 
snow, and winds as sharp as a razor. 

Mr. Cloysterman is drawing me at length in Golilla, 
with other Spanish ornaments ; it will be a very good 
piece, and I hope serve to introduce him where I cannot 
go myself, for his ambition is to make the Queen's 
picture, and I hope to procure him that honour. — 
Hitherto I writ in the morning ; at noon came my 
friend, the Portugal Envoy to tell me the King had 



150 SPAIN ODER CHARLES TEE SECOND. 



ordered Mr. Cloystennan to be at two at the palace, with 
his clothes and all recado for painting. He obeyed ; 
and the King; after a hundred questions, as his way is. 
bid him draw a dwarf' s picture there present, which 
he began immediately. Then in came the Queen, 
whom he accosted in German, and she was so well 
satisfied with him, she promised he should make both 
the King's and her picture. — As a confirmation of 
what I said before of the King's good state of health, 
Mr. Cloysterman, who shoidd understand faces, says 
he looks well and healthy, and that if he were in 
England he should win a great deal of money in 
wagers on his life, which it seems is a great trade in 
London, 



TO MR. BLATHWAYTE. 

Madrid, Xovember 21, 1698. 

The French Ambassador and his Lady are now 
undeceived as to the Spanish huniour, and fully satisfied 
that all those caresses they took to proceed from inch- 
nation and affection were only the sprinklings of Court 
holy-water. They are both preparing to be gone in all 
haste, she in fifteen days, and he in a month or two 
after; the causes of this sudden resolution are much 
discoursed ; some say his Master is dissatisfied with, his 
conduct, but he gives out his domestic affairs. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 151 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, November 26, 1693. 

Our French. Ambassador is leaving us. "Whether 
the Grand Monarquebe offended with this Court or his 
own Minister does not vet appear \ I rather believe it is 
with both ; this King that he does not die,, and his 
Minister for assuring him that he could not live, which 
belief has made this last year as chargeable to him as 
any during the late war. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, December 29, 1698. 
Our King of Spain continues well ; and you must 
have heard of his publishing his testament in Council, 
wherein he declared the Electoral Prince of Bavaria 
his nephew, his heir and successor. All endeavours 
have been used to smother it. Of then Majesties, he 
shuffles off the discourse, and she positively has denied 
it to the German Ambassador, as do all the Privy Coun- 
cillors ; but it is most certain, and our Master knows it 
long before this from the Elector, as we have an account 
from Flanders. None disowns it more than our friend 
Bertier,* who sent the news by express to his Master 
the night of the Council. What it will produce we 
must expect, for it seems a resolution very ill timed. 



* The Bavarian Envoy. 



152 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



though the thing itself is undoubtedly the best this 
people can do for themselves and all Christendom that 
are no pretenders. 



TO THE MARQUIS OF NORMANBY. 

Madrid, January 6, 1699, 

The scarcity of money here is not to be believed but 
by eye-witnesses, notwithstanding the arrival of so many 
flotas and galleons, supplies not to be expected again in 
many years, for the last flota went out to India empty, 
and ex nihilo nihil Jit. Their army in Catalonia, by the 
largest account, is not 8000 men, one half of them 
Germans and Walloons, who are all starving and desert- 
ing as fast as they can. When I came first to Spain 
they had eighteen good men-of-war ; these are now 
reduced to two or three, I know not which. A wise 
council might find some remedy for most of these 
defects, but they all hate and are jealous one of another : 
and if any among them pretends to public spirit to 
advise anything for the good of the country, the rest fall 
upon him, nor is he to hope for any support from his 
Master, who has the greatest facility of any prince in 
the world in parting with his best friends and dearest 
favourites. This is a summary account of the present 
state of Spain ; which how wretched soever it may 
seem to others, they are in then own conceit very happy, 
believing themselves still the greatest nation in the 
world; and are now as proud and haughty as in the days 
of Charles the Fifth. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



153 



TO THE EARL OF JERSEY, AT PARIS. 

Madrid) January 15, 1699. 

The people here are very jealous of what you have 
transacted in Holland, and their ambassador, Quiros, 
pretends to have penetrated the secret, assuring them it 
is a repartition of then' monarchy agreed between our 
King and the French. This they are very angry at, 
saying, they will rather deliver themselves up to the 
French, or the devil, so they may go all together, rather 
than be dismembered. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, January 21, 1699. 

The French Ambassador here has, at last, opened 
concerning the late declaration of the succession ; and 
three days ago demanded of the King, in his Master's 
name, to call Cortes Generates to settle that great point. 
No answer is yet given him, though it suffered a long 
debate in Council yesterday. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, February 4, 1699. 

The French Ambassador has pressed very hard all 
this last week for an answer to his Memorial, and was 

h 3 



154 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 



yesterday with Don Antonio de Ubilla, urging again, 
that, if the Council of State could not agree what to 
say to him, the King should call Cortes Generales, who 
would be the properest judges of that matter. The 
motion was very ill taken, which he little values, not 
having for some time observed anv measures with these 
people. His method has succeeded well, for this after- 
noon they sent him an answer. As I hear, the substance 
is, that His Catholic Majesty has not contravened in the 
least to what he promised the Most Christian King, 
which was only to maintain inviolably the peace of 
Ryswick ; and that as to his late will that has made so 
much noise, it contains nothing new as to the Succes- 
sion, or different from that he made in his great illness 
above two years ago, 

This, if so, seems nothing less than a resolution to 
stand by what they have done ; but, in answer to your 
query, what measures they take here to render it effectual, 
I assure you that is the least of their thoughts, for they 
neither raise men, nor have money to put them- 
selves in any state of defence, insomuch that, as I have 
it from eye-witnesses, Barcelona is just as when the 
French left it, not a brick or stone laid any where to 
repair the breaches ! 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, February 11, 1699. 

The pretenders to politics here expect the French 
will enter this spring either into Xavarre or Catalonia, 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



155 



although they rather think it will be Navarre \ yet it is 
impossible to discover what they fear most by any pre- 
parations they make for defence, for they make not the 
least in any part, and seem to abandon themselves 
wholly to Providence. 



TO MR. PRIOR, SECRETARY TO THE EARL OF JERSEY, 
AT PARIS. 

Madrid, February 13, 1699. 
We know very well the principle from which proceed 
the outside civilities of the French ; but let it be as it 
is, oderint dum metuant, which, it may be, is the best 
foot England ever ought to desire to stand upon with 
France. I wish I could tell you we were on so good a 
one with Spain, who have not a jot more kindness for 
us ; yet they are infatuated with an opinion that, for 
our own sakes, we will neither hurt them ourselves, nor 
suffer anybody else to do it, which they think gives 
them a privilege of using us as they please. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, February 18, 1699. 

Last week I sent you a copy of this King's answer 
to the French Ambassador's memorial, but there is now 
an end of that matter by the death of the Electoral 
Prince of Bavaria, at which I cannot find this Court is 



156 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



much concerned, for it retrieves them out of great 
difficulties they had run themselves into, that otherwise 
were likely to have proved very troublesome. 

You would be amazed to hear the stories that are 
made here on our Parliament's proceedings. Several 
here told me this day our King is now away to the 
Hague, and that the people will have no more Kings, 
but only a Doge as at Venice, and set up a Republic ; 
and they that report them are not rabble, but men that 
go in coaches with tir antes largos .* 



TO MR. HOPKINS. 

Madrid, February 18, 1699, 

We had, the post before I received your favour, advice 
from Holland of the Scotch plantation near Darien, but 
this Court takes no notice of it. nor, I believe, ever will; 
however, not to me. We have a saying that it is safe 
beating a proud man, who, to conceal his own weakness, 
will not vouchsafe to complain ; it is just the case of 
this people, who as they themselves never will make 
satisfaction for any injustice they do, so they think it 
beneath them to complain of those they receive ; so that 
certainly the best way of treating them is, as the Scotch 
have done, always to be beforehand with them, and put 
the complaint on their side. 



* Long traces. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



157 



TO ADMIRAL AYLMER. 

Madrid, February 24, 1699. 

We know, by way of Flanders, that all things were 
very quiet in England, to the confusion of a company of 
rascally Irish friars here, who had spread abroad, and 
made half the town believe it, that the Parliament had 
forced the King away into Holland, and resolved they 
would have no more Kings ! 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, March 5, 1699. 

Padre Matilla, who has been long the King^s 
Confessor, was yesterday discharged from that office, 
and another Dominican, Padre Froylan Diaz, a Cathe- 
dratico of Alcala, is in his place. This was so new to 
the Almirante, that last night when he saw him in the 
King-'s bedchamber, he asked who that friar was, and 
what he did there. Yesterday was also reported the 
banishment of the Conde de Oropesa and the Duque de 

Montalto The Cardinal of Toledo is looked on 

as the author of these changes. 



158 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 



TO MR. METHUEX, AT LISBON. 

Madrid. March 12, 1699. 

The French Ambassador lias represented, in writing, 
the great danger the Spaniards are in of losing then- 
Inches by the great number of English, Scotch, and 
Dutch lately gone thither, and that they seem also to 
have a design to destroy the Catholic religion there, 
having carried over several hundred heretic ministers 
there to that purpose, which his Master thought very 
convenient to acquaint his Catholic Majesty, and that 
some speedy course might be taken to prevent it. The 
Nuncio, also, as you will easily believe, joined heartily 
in so holy a design, but with this remarkable circum- 
stance, that as Quevedo makes the devil excuse himself 
that he had not possessed the Alguazil, but that he 
himself was Alguazilado, so it was not the Nuncio 
that instigated the Ambassador, but the Ambassador 
him. However that was between them, they had all 
the success they could desire, for in three days' time 
despatches were ordered, made, and sent to all the 
Spanish Governors there, not to receive any of our 
ships into their ports, upon no distress whatsoever, not 
so much as to give us fresh water, nor entertain any 
communication directly or indirectly with them. 

The French design in all this, seems to be, to put us 
upon resenting some affronts there, upon which they 
will, in great finesse, offer their services to defend them 
against us ; and by this means, we being on so ill terms 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



with Spain, shall have no hand in disposing of the 
succession ; and they, as being their best friends, enjoy 
it without the least contradiction. ""lis possible, also, 
there may be a design now the truce is concluded with 
the Turk, to engage Christendom in a new religious 
war, to root out the northern heresy; though I can 
hardly think things are yet ripe enough for the execution 
of that project, though 'tis most certain they have it in 
idea. 



It will throw considerable light on the much debated 
affair of Darien, to insert in this place the Instructions 
which were sent to Mr. Stanhope by the British 
Government, 



MR. SECRETARY VERNON TO THE HONOURABLE 
A. STANHOPE. 

Whitehall, March 17, 1699. 

Sir, 

I believe you may have heard, that about four 
years ago, when the Marquis of Tweedclale was Chan- 
cellor of Scotland, and his Majesty's Commissioner for 
holding the Parliament there, and Mr. Johnstone was 
Secretary of State for that kingdom, under colour of 
instructions they procured for the advancement of trade 
in general, they prepared and passed an Act in Scotland 
for establishing a company, with large powers and 
privileges, for carrying on a trade both into the East 
and West Indies. The first effect of it appeared as 
setting up subscriptions here in London for raising a 



160 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



joint-stock to drive an interloping trade in the East 
Indies, which, was immediately taken notice of by our 
Parliament, who broke the neck of that design, and 
drove away the Scotchmen who were authors of it ; and 
as soon as his Majesty understood how far he had been 
imposed on by passing such an Act, without his privity, 
he dismissed both the Chancellor and Secretary from 
then employments. The Scotch, being disappointed in 
London, formed a project of going to the West Indies, 
which his Majesty has not been able to this day to 
know the bottom of ; but when he heard that they 
were engaging the Hamburghers to be concerned with 
them, he ordered his Resident in that city to oppose it, 
so that it fell there : however, the Scotch, among them- 
selves, fitted out three or four ships, and privately sailed 
away last summer. As soon as his Majesty had notice 
of their arrival at the Island of St. Thomas, in the West 
Indies, he immediately despatched orders to the respec- 
tive Governors of the plantations that they should hold 
no correspondence with the said undertakers, nor give 
them any succour, they having gone upon a design which 
his Majesty was no way acquainted with, and there- 
fore could not approve of ; so that his Majesty has of 
himself done all that the Spaniards could have desired of 
him, either for the preventing or the defeating of this 
expedition, which, if it be duly considered, ought to 
preserve his Majesty, and his English subjects, from the 
least reproach. As occasion, therefore, serves, you will 
take care to make this matter rightly understood. 

I am, &c. James Vernon. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 161 



In a subsequent despatch of March 27, Secretary 
Vernon adds :— 

It is the interest of England to take all the fair ways 
they can to defeat that settlement of Darien, the conse- 
quence whereof would be the draining of all our Colonies 
of the young and vigorous men, by whom the planta- 
tions should be improved and secured, besides the 
setting up of brigandage and piracies. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, March 18, 1699. 

After above a month of summer, we have had now a 
week of sharp frosts, some snow, and winds as sharp as 
a razor. 

I am deep in Mr. Locke, and find the great book 
much plainer and more edifying than the epitome you 
brought me before. 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, April 2, 1699. 

The King's former Confessor, Father Matilla, who 
was discharged about a month ago, took his disgrace so 
much to heart that he died of pure grief the day before 
yesterday. 



162 PAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, April 15, 1699. 

You have very much obliged me by your letter of 
the 7th of March, which instructs me not only what to 
say, but also what to think concerning the Scotch expe- 
dition to America, being a thing that before seemed some- 
thing mysterious. It is not long since I acquainted 
Mr. Hopkins with the resolutions of this Court, and the 
orders despatched to the Indies to use all possible means 
to root out and destroy those poor wretches ; and if 
they be no otherwise supported than I now see they are, 

it will be no difficult matter to effect it This 

shall be conveyed to every one of the Councillors of 
State upon my word and your authority, though I can- 
not be answerable to you how far they may credit it, 
for I am informed they are persuaded at present very 
much otherwise. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, April 29, 1699. 

The Corregidor, Don Francisco de Vargas y Lezama, 
being in the Plaza Mayor yesterday about seven of the 
clock in the morning, a priest came to him and com- 
plained of the great want of bread, as at the same time did 
a poor woman, to whom he answered very imprudently, 
they might thank God it was not double the price, 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



163 



although it be now more than as dear again as usual ; 
and to the woman in particular, who complained of a 
great charge of children, he replied, rallying, it was her 
fault to let her husband get so many, upon which she 
threw a pair of pigeons she had in her hand, in his face, 
calling him Cornudo and Ladron, and immediately all 
the rabble pursued him, throwing stones, and had cer- 
tainly killed him, if he had not, as fast as his horse 
could run, secured himself in the Casa cle Ayuntamiento, 
or Guildhall, and so came off only with a broken pate. 
The rabble marched on with great noise, crying all the 
way, Viva el Rey i y ^SLuera el Concle cle Orojyesa, el 
Almirante y el Corregidor ! with this noise entering 
into the courts of the Palace and up to the King's 
apartment, crying out, " Bread ! bread ! 33 and, " TVe 
" will have Konquillo for our Corregidor V 3 His Ma- 
jesty hearing this noise, asked what the matter was. 
At first they told him, nothing but some idle boys ; but 
the disorder increasing, and it being impossible to 
dissemble the matter any longer, told him it was a 
tumult of the people, who, wanting bread in the Plaza, 
came crying out to his Majesty to remedy it. The 
King bid the Conde de Benevente go and give them 
some money to quiet them, which he having attempted 
in vain, returned to his Majesty, saying, nothing would 
satisfy them but to have Don Francisco Ronquillo for 
their Corregidor again, as he had been three or four 
years before, and then they had bread enough and 
wanted nothing. The King, looking out of the window, 
and seeing more and more trooping together every 
minute, ordered that Ronquillo should be mmiediatelv 



164 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 

sworn in the office of Corregidor; and the Conde de 
Benevente went directly to fetch him, and brought him 
to the Royal Council of Castille, attended by the rabble, 
shouting, Viva Ronquillo ! The Council were quickened 
to despatch him by the melancholy accounts that 
another body of the mob were burning the Conde de 
Oropesa's house, and that if Ronquillo did not appear 
immediately, there would be no saving it. He then 
came out as Corregidor, with his varra or white staff in 
his hand, and, mounting on horseback, went from the 
Palace attended by the crowd, crying out all the way, 
Viva al Rey victor Ronquillo ! and although by this 
pretence their fury was something abated, yet they soon 
began again to tear down the iron grates before the 
windows : some of them they got down, and about 
fifteen rushing in (but without arms, as indeed most of 
them were), the Conde' s servants, as is believed, killed 
them all, for they have never appeared since, and it is 
said the bodies were thrown into a well. Then, having 
secured the doors and windows, they fired out of the 
house among the rabble, and killed five or six ; one a 
reformed Alferez, whose body his companions took up 
and carried immediately away to the Palace, and went 
with it as far as the top of the stairs that go to the 
King's lodgings before they were stopped, crying out, 
" Justice ! justice ! " and demanding the heads of the 
Conde de Oropesa and Almirante. The Sacrament, in 
this confusion, was brought out from several chinches, 
with processions of all the orders of friars with crucifixes 
in their hands, and a crucifix placed in every window as 
a security to the house. These holy things quieted 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 165 



them for some time, yet still they continued together in 
the same place. Ronquillo then, thinking to divide 
them and draw them off, said " Hijos, children, let us 
" go to the Palace, and I will intercede with the King 
" for your pardon." Above 5000 followed him ; and 
all this rabble, coming into the great court of the Palace, 
just under the King's window, roared out as before, 
Viva el Hey, Muera Oropesa ! — " Let the King appear ! 
" Let the King appear ! " At this noise the Queen 
came to the window, and told them, " Hijos^ the King 
"is asleep." The rabble answered, in a great rage, 
" We do not believe it, for this is no time to sleep." * 
At last the Queen, seeing their obstinacy to see the 
King, retired from the window weeping, and called his 
Majesty, who, saluting them with his hat, and a lower 
bow than ever he made before, said, " Hijos mios, I 
" have given to the Corregidor the orders you desire, with 
"absolute power to do whatever may conduce to your 
" satisfaction;" and at the same time, addressing himself 
to the Corregidor, said, "And to you, Don Francisco 
" Ronquillo, I give all necessary power to do or undo 
" whatsoever may be for the ease of my subjects ;" and 
the people replying that they desired his Majesty's 
pardon, and that they might not be punished for this 
tumult, the King answered them, " I pardon you, nor 
"shall you be punished either now or hereafter, of 
" which I call God to witness," at the same time wafting 

* According to other accounts their answer was : Ya mucho tiernpo 
que dormia, y convenia despertarse ! " He has slept too long, and 
14 must now awake !" alluding to his neglect of government. (Ortiz, 
Compendio, lib. xxi. c. 10.) 



166 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



a white pocket handkerchief in the air ; after which he 
saluted them with his hat as before, and retired from the 

window The Conde de Oropesa, who was ill 

in bed with a fit of the ague when his house was first 
invested, found means to escape in a Mar's habit to the 
Convento del Rosario, as did also his wife and children, 
by breaking a wall into another house ; and before they 
could get ready to be gone, the rabble pressed so hard 
upon the house, that they were like to force in, which 
is the excuse I hear was given for the firing that killed 
the Alferez and the rest. All the Royal Council of 
Castille, and many of the Grandees, staid in the Palace 
all night. The Almirante, upon the first noise of the 
tumult, went from his house in a mean coach, with two 
mules and curtains drawn, by a private way to the 
Palace ; nevertheless, by some who knew him, was 
saluted with Gallina and Tray dor, and that possibly 
to-morrow, after they had done with Oropesa, they 
would give him a visit. The Cardinal of Toledo was at 
Toledo; he of Cordova, being very inexperienced in the 
world, went amongst the rabble, giving them ill words 
and threats when they were in their highest ferment. 
Thev pushed him from one to another, till a body of 
priests and friars got round him and carried him off. 
This morning, being the 29th of April, all appeared 
quiet near the Conde's house, though all this day there 
are observed little troops of people got together in 
several parts, and I hear that the body of the masons^ 
carpenters, and coachmakers, murmur extremely for the 
death of some of their brotherhood and friends yesterday, 
which makes us fear there may be some disorder again 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



167 



this night. The benefit they feel already from this 
violent medicine is, that a loaf of bread of two pounds, 
that was yesterday fourteen quartos, is to-day sold for 
seven and a half ; and mutton, yesterday thirteen 
quartos, is to-day sold for ten per pound. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, April 29, 1699. 

The King is very weak, and declines fast. The 
tumult yesterday, I fear, may have some ill effect further 
on his health ; it was such as the like never before 
happened in Madrid in the memory of the oldest men 
here, and proves, contrary to what they brag of, that 

here is a mob as well as in other places All 

seems quiet now, but people trooping in several parts 
together; and the rage of the gremios of the dlbaniles* 
carpenteros, and maestros de coches, who are the guapos 
of Madrid, for their brethren killed in the Conde's 
house, and by his servants, make us fear there may be 
again, this night, a second part to the same tune. 

Next time you send me any books, I would have 
Dampier's Voyages, rather in French than English, that 
I may oblige some friends here. I am much confirmed, 
by Collier's book, in the opinion I have long had of our 
English stage ; and it puts me in mind of what I many 

* Gremio de Albaniles, company of masons. Carpenteros, and 
maestros de coches, I need scarcely translate into carpenters and coach- 
masters. Guapo is that sort of character in a town which friends would 
call a hero, and enemies a bully. 



168 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



years ago heard my Lord Chesterfield* say, that he 
desired his wife and daughters, to make good wives to 
whom they should marry, might have Presbyterian 
education. Certainly, at the rate of obscenity and pro- 
faneness of our English plays, there are very few, if any, 
fit for a young woman to see, who is designed to be 
bred virtuously and modestly. I need not tell you I 
mean this for your sister, and the reasons are so evident, 
that I cannot suspect that from my saying this you will 
believe me grown morose because I am grown old, since 
you very well know the contrary. — Mr. Bourn, who was 
copying all the time I have thus rambled, has now 
done, and it is very late. I am, dear James, &:c. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, April 29, 1699. 
At night. 

The length of my inclosed narrative will excuse a 
short letter, and indeed here is little else to write. All 
agree the Conde de Oropesa can never more appear 
in Madrid, which I am really sorry for ; he was irrecon- 
cilable to the French interest, and I took him to be a 
friend to our King, but of so timorous and irresolute 
a temper, that the least difficulty was sufficient to divert 
his good intentions from proceeding to action. This 

* This was Philip second Earl of Chesterfield ; the same mentioned in 
the Memoires de Grammont. — A volume of his Correspondence was 
published by Mr. Lloyd in 1829. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



169 



tumult seems purely casual, being begun and continued 
by the very dregs of the rabble, almost necessitated by 
downright want of bread ; nor was it a pretence taken 
up, but a real truth. The new Corregidor Don Fran- 
cisco de Ronquillo, fatigued so much all yesterday and 
to-day, that this afternoon he was forced to retire home 
and take his bed, being, as they tell me, in a strong 
fever. 

I have, according to your orders, either by myself 
or friends, published so effectually his Majesty's disown- 
ing the Scotch design in the West Indies, that I am 
sure not a man in Madrid, that ever heard of the 
former, but has been informed that his Majesty not 
only disowns it, but has done all that is possible to 
disappoint it. 



TO MR. METHUEN, AT LISBON. 

Madrid, May 7, 1699. 

The account I gave you last week mentioned the 
small regard the rabble had for the Cardinal of Cordova, 
who went by the King's order to try to pacify them ; but 
it seems they very little reverenced his purple, for when 
they cried Viva el Rey, Viva el Rey, y muera el Conde 
de Oropesa, he chimed with them as far as Viva el Rey ; 
but they, not thinking that enough, said, Diga V. Em*, 
como nosotros y muera el Conde de Oropesa, which he 
at first making some difficulty to do, they tossed him 
like a tennis-ball from one to another, till at last, to get 

i 



170 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 

out of their hands,, he was forced to comply, and cry out 
with the rest, Viva el Rey, y muera el Conde de Oropesa. 
The people flattered themselves with hopes of a very 
great reform in the prices of provisions, but were mis- 
taken. Bread fell, indeed, the first two or three days, 
but is up again as high as ever, and very little to be 
had at any price. My baker this day excused himself 
to me, he could get no wheat to bake, and it was with 
some difficulty I got any for my dinner ; nor is it like 
to be better, for several officers of the first rank, who 
were sent out to Castillo, la vieja, to buy wheat, and 
indeed to force it away wherever they could find it, have 
returned a very melancholy account, that there is very 
little to be had. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, May 8, 1699. 

In consequence of the tumult here last Tuesday was 
se'nnight, of which I gave you an account, after daily 
consults of the Council of State ever since, last night, 
about ten, a Decreto was sent to the Conde de Oropesa, 
from the King, ordering him to leave Madrid, but not 
confining him to any place or distance from the Court, 
as is usual in like cases, so that he may live where he 
pleases, and to-morrow morning he goes to a place called 
Morate, a country-house of the Marques de Leganez, 
five leagues hence. The people, animated with this 
success, are determined, as the public voice runs, that 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 171 



the Almirante shall soon follow him, notwithstanding 
above 200 guards he has day and night in his house, 
and the stores of grenades, &c. he has there ready. It 
seems probable there will be some more disturbances. 
Here was yesterday great want of bread ; to-day it is 
pretty plentiful, but very dear. It is generally said, 
but with what truth I know not, that the Conde de 
Oropesa gave licence for the extraction of 400,000 
fanegas of wheat into Portugal, which has occasioned 
the present scarcity here. 

The Cardinal of Toledo presses hard to be President 
of Castille ; if he obtain it, we shall see many more 
changes, for he will certainly banish all the Queen's 
German creatures, as Madame Berlips, her Capucin con- 
fessor, &c. The fright of the rabble cured the Conde 
de Oropesa of his ague, and has had no ill effect on his 
Catholic Majesty's health, as was feared it might, but, 
on the contrary, they say he is rather better, though he 
has not thought fit to stir out of his palace since that 
troublesome day. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, May 13, 1699. 

The King went this day to dine at the Pardo alone, 
without the Queen, which being very unusual, makes 
people think her Majesty is much out of humour, as 
indeed she has great reason ; for the Cardinal of Toledo, 
who, I hear, was to meet the King to-day at the Pardo, 

i 2 



172 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 

declares he will have all her favourites and friends 
banished the Court, by name — the Alniirante, Conde de 
Aguilar, Countess of Berlips, and her German Capucin 
confessor. He is a very bold man, and has the people 
on his side ; so it is probable he may go a great way 
towards it. 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, May 13, 1699. 

The Conde de Cifuentes, notwithstanding his late 
hard usage, has very loyally and generously offered 
6000 fanegas, that is, 9000 bushels of wheat, which 
the Corregidor acquainted the King with, and his 
Majesty very kindly accepted. This will keep the 
people from starving one day longer, for it is computed 
about that quantity is consumed every day here. 



TO ADMIRAL AYLMER. 

Madrid, May 14, 1699. 

Bread continues still very scarce, there being no day 

half enough Since the tumult here, another 

has happened at Yalladolid, which was more bloody for 
the time, but sooner appeased, for the gentlemen of 
that city all mounted on horseback, and soon dispersed 
the rabble, whereas not one of all our Grandees here 
thought fit to show his head that day. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



173 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, May 21, 1699. 

It has been so contrived, that several great men have 
delivered memorials to his Majesty, not as from them- 
selves, but pretending they were forced by a number of 
unknown persons, rebocados, who came to their houses 
and obliged them, by threats in case of refusal, to deliver 
them to the King. 

Our want of bread is not lessened, and it goes very 
hard with the poor, and that excuses all their insolences, 
which would otherwise be intolerable, and thought so 
even in Holland or Switzerland as well as here. You 
may tell your mother I pay fifteen and sixteen quartos 
for bread, twenty-six reales the fanega for barley, and 
five to six reales the arroba for straw, which is treble 
what she ever knew it here. 

We have an addition of above 20,000 beggars flocked 
from the country round, to share in that little here is, 
who were starving at home, and look like ghosts.* 

* Twenty years before, Madame de Villars writes nearly the same : 
" Ce pauvre peuple parait ne vivre que de ce qu'on appelle ici tomar el 
44 sol, taut il est maigre, abattu et miserable." Lettres, p. 85, le 6 Mars, 
1680. 



174 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO MR. PRIOR, SECRETARY TO THE EARL OF JERSEY. 

Madrid, May 22, 1699. 

The Cardinal of Toledo, dexterously making his 
advantage of the late tumult, persuades the King to 
whatever he pleases, as the only means to avoid another. 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, May 27, 1699, 
I have not yet moved to have the provisions for our 
fleet free of paying duties, not thinking it a proper time, 
by reason of the great hurry and combustion this Court 
has been in now above a month, for all this time 
nothing has been thought or talked of but bread, and 
revenge in banishing enemies under the plausible pre- 
tences of the public good. The Almirante is now gone 
after the Conde de Oropesa. The 23d instant, at three 
in the afternoon, a Decrelo was brought him to leave 
the Court in twenty-four hours, and go thirty leagues 
distance, not to return till his Majesty's farther order, 
The next day he parted accordingly; and has been since, 
I hear, at Aranjuez, whence he desired leave to retire to 
San Lucar de Barameda in Andalusia, which is granted 
him. The Countess of Berlips and the Queen's Confessor 
it is said will be next, and that there are above twenty 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 175 

others, several of them Consejeros of the long robe, who 
are in the Cardinal's black list, that must be gone 
also. The active managers of these changes are the 
Cardinal of Toledo, Marques de Leganez, and Conde de 
Monterey. The last is most intimate with the French 
Ambassador, but I do not believe the other two to be at 
all in that interest. 

The scarcity of bread is growing on apace towards 
famine, which increases by vast multitudes of poor 
that swarm in upon us from the countries round about. 
I shifted the best I could till this day, but the difficulty 
of getting any without authority has made me recur to 
the Corregidor, as most of the foreign Ministers had 
done before ; he very courteously, after inquiring what 
my family was, gave me an order for twenty loaves 
every day ; but I must send two leagues to Vallejas to 
fetch it, as I have done this night, and my servants with 
long guns to secure it when they have it, otherwise it 
would be taken from them, for several people are killed 
every day in the streets in scuffles for bread, all being 
lawful prize that anybody can catch. 

Two days ago all the prisoners in the Carcel de la 
Villa, about sixty in number, being almost starved, 
watched their opportunity to get into the Alcalde's 
armoury, seized the arms, beat off one another's 
shackles, and forced the Alcalde to open them the door 
to save his own life. The ringleader, with a crucifix in 
his hand, marched at the head of them directly to the 
Palace, crying, Senor, pan y perdon ! The King, 
apprehending it to be another tumult like the former, 
sent out the Conde de Benevente to assure them of his 



176 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 



pardon,, and they presently dispersed to several of the 
nearest convents, who charitably relieved them with 
breach 



TO HIS SOX. JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, May 27, 1699. 

My Secretary, Don Francisco,* saw yesterday five 
poor women stifled to death by the crowd before a 
bakehouse ! 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON. 

Madrid, June 10, 1699. 

The Almirante continues still at Aranjuez, which his 
adversaries aggravate as a great disrespect to the King, 
and are soliciting a second Becreto to enforce the first 
of thirty leagues distance, 

Comte Harrach. the Emperor's Ambassador, joins m 
this new cabal against the Queen, and goes to their 

* This Don Francisco had afterwards some narrow escapes in the Wax 
of the Succession. General Stanhope says, in his despatch to Lord Dart- 
mouth from Valladolid, February 23, 1711, " Don Francisco de Luna 
"has been my Spanish Secretary 3 and was so before to my father for many 
ec years. When my Lord Gal way went to Madrid, he immediately came and 
u tendered his services to him, for which he was afterwards put in prison, 
u and narrowly escaped hanging. Having found means to escape, he got 

to me at Barcelona, and has been very useful. He had the misfortune 
K to be taken prisoner with me at Brihuega. but I have with great diffi- 
M culty got him released as a menial servant, and he is now returning to 
11 Barcelona, where he has a wife and family." 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 177 



meetings, which has provoked her Majesty to give him 
very hard words, and they have both writ very severe 
complaints to Vienna. The meeting is at the Marques 
de Leganez' house, where the Cardinal of Toledo and 
Conde de Monterey never fail. Old Balbazes is so 
decrepit he cannot assist himself, but sends the Marques 
de Quintana, his son-in-law, to give them his opinion 
on all points, and know theirs. The Marquesses de 
Mancera and Villa Franca are there sometimes, but 
always concur to what the others do j in short, they are 
the whole Council of State, except the Cardinal of Cor- 
dova and the Conde de Aguilar. When they saw the 
King very averse to sign the Decreto against the Almi- 
rante, they unanimously told him none of them would 
come any more to Court, insinuating what might be 
the consequences of another tumult, whereupon it was 
presently signed, and by the same means they will 
obtain whatever else they think fit to pretend ; nay, I 
know their emissaries stick not to say, if the Queen will 
not be quiet she shall be disposed of into a convent. 

Last week was published an order, forbidding, under 
severe penalties, all exportation of coarse wools into 
foreign countries. It was given upon the petition of 
the clothiers in Segovia and Toledo, representing that 
strangers, especially French, bought up all the wools at 
such extravagant rates that they were not able to carry 
on their manufacture. I fear we may share in the pre- 
judice, since it will be in the power of the King's 
officers to make what wools coarse and what tine they 
please. 



178 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND , 



TO His SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, June 10, 1699. 

We have here a new Parma Envoy who speaks very 
little Spanish, and who passing along the streets in his 
coach with a very handsome equipage, some of the 
rabble took the fancy that it was the Portugal Envoy, 
and began to speak hard words about the extraction of 
so much wheat to Portugal, and that he was the cause. 
More soon joined them, surrounding the coach, and 
would probably have used him very scurvily. The poor 
Italian not understanding what they said, called his 
footman to know what was the matter, who informed 
him the people mistook him for the Portugal Envoy, 
when he immediately reached himself out of both doors, 
crying out aloud, "Senores, no es mi! No es mi } Senorcsl" 
This rescued him better than any speech in the purest 
Castillan could have done, and the mob, perceiving their 
mistake, left him. He had the humanity presently to 
acquaint the Portugal with his danger, who did not 
think fit to stir abroad in several days after, though he 
pretended other reasons to me for his keeping house, 
believing I did not know the true one ! Therefore take 
no notice of it to your friend the Portugal there, with 
whom he constantly corresponds. The destierro of the 
Conde de Oropesa is a mortal stab to their Master, who. 
as I am well informed, flattered himself with no less 
hopes than the succession to this Monarchy by the 
Conde' s intrigues in this Court. Another certain Prince 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



179 



you know* stands now much the fairest in favour here, 
and more since he has a son. These people generally 
adore the memory of Ferdinand the Catholic, and to 
have just such another they cannot in the world make a 
better choice. 



TO THE EARL OF JERSEY, SECRETARY OF STATE. 

Madrid, June 24, 1699. 

His Catholic Majesty grows every day sensibly worse 
and worse. It is true that last Thursday they made 
him walk in the public solemn procession of Corpus, 
which was much shortened for his sake. However, he 
performed it so feebly, that all who saw him said he 
could not make one straight step, but staggered all the 
way ; nor could it otherwise be expected, after he had 
had two falls a day or two before, walking in his own 
lodgings, when his legs doubled under him by mere 
weakness. In one of them he hurt one eye, which 
appeared much swelled, and black and blue, in the pro- 
cession ; the other being quite sunk into his head, . the 
nerves, they say, being contracted by his paralytic dis- 
temper. Yet it was thought fit to have him make this 
sad figure in public, only to have it put into the Gazette 
how strong and vigorous he is ! 

An advice-boat is newly sent to the West Indies with 
a prorogation of the Viceroy ship of Peru to the Conde 



* The Duke of Savoy. 



180 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

de Muneloa for three years longer. He lost his arm at 
the battle of the Downs, near Dunkirk, and has ever 
since worn one of silver, for which he is known by the 
name of Brazo de Plata. He, being an old experienced 
soldier, and long acquainted with that country, is 
thought more proper to manage the war against the 
Scots in Darien, than the Conde de Herill, who was 
named for that employment, although others maliciously 
say it is only because the Conde de Herill is not able to 
comply with the Countess of Berlips, in paying the 
100,000 crowns he contracted to give her for it. 



TO HIS SOX, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, June 24, 1699. 

We have had a fortnight of hotter weather than I 
have ever known in any season, and the town is very 
sickly, but, I thank God, I and my family continue 
well. ... I have had no butter in the house above 
three months, which is a miserable condition, nor was 
any to be had from the ports for love or money. 

The Cardinal presses the King hard to send away the 
Sabandijas* as they call them, who one day promises, 
and another the Queen makes him retract, so nothing 
is done, and there must be another fright to make him 
resolve and do, and that probably will not be wanting. 



Insects — a term of contempt. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 181 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, July 8 4 1699. 

It is impossible to make these people understand the 
difference between English and Scotch, though on other 
occasions, when the complaint was on our part, their 
Ministers have owned to me their King was properly so 
of Castille, but that in Aragon and Biscay the subjects 
were no further so, than they thought stood with their 
own conveniency. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, July 15, 1699, 
I saw the King two nights after sunset in the Paseo 
del Rio, but Saturday night he felt himself ill at sto- 
mach, which has confined him to his bed ever since. 
He is so cold that, though it be now the hottest weather 
I remember in my life, they are fain to ply him in his 
bed with warm clothes ! The doctors, not knowing 
what more to do with the King, to save their credit, 
have bethought themselves to say his ill must certainly 
be witchcraft, and there is a great Court party who 
greedily catch at and improve the report, which, how 
ridiculous soever it may sound in England, I can assure 
you is generally believed here, and propagated by others 
to serve a turn. They, finding all their attempts in 
vain to banish Madame Berlips, think this cannot fail, 



182 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



and all possible endeavours are using to find out any 
colourable pretences to make her the witch. Nor is it 
the first time that game has been played here, and with 
success. Bread is somewhat fallen, which always 
happens after some threatening papers affixed in public 
places against the Ministers, whose vile covetousness 
has certainly in great measure increased the scarcity. 
. . . . The most bloody pasquinades appear every 

day These most loyal subjects seem to have 

lost all manner of respect to Majesty, at least the pre- 
sent, and whenever he fails them there will be more 
work cut out than can be finished in my days. 

I have writ for some necessaries, and must now add 
another, that is, a good cook. I mean a man-cook, as 
all my brethren have, for I am convinced by woeful 
experience, women will not do in this country. I need 
not tell you Mary's fault, you know what it is ; but I 
may tell you that it is grown to such an extremity of 
scandal, that she is grown a dishonour to the nation in 
this sober countiy, and I dare not speak to her, for then 
she falls presently into fits, and is not only useless, but 
a disorder to the family for ten or fifteen days after. 
She can look to my fine linen well enough, but is indeed 
capable of nothing else, least of all for a kitchen, where 
the fire increases, or at least gives a fair pretence to, her 
constant thirst. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



183 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, July 29, 1699. 

They say here our King is again re-parting their 
monarchy, Quiros affirms it positively, at which they 
begin to he very angry, and I believe it may change the 
favourable dispositions I have met here lately. This 
world is nothing but ups and downs, and I have learned 
to take all things as they come. 

The weather continues very hot, and makes a sickly 
season. Though harvest be now all in, yet corn and 
bread is rather dearer than cheaper. There is indeed 
plenty enough in the markets, so only the poor suffer ; 
and it goes so hard with them that I cannot sufficiently 
admire at their patience, and whenever the King dies 
apprehend some great violences, from which — Libera 
nos T) amine I 



TO MR. SECRETARY VERNON, 

Madrid, August 12, 1G99. 

About six or seven weeks ago, a cornier was de- 
spatched from this Court to Rome, to represent to his 
Holiness the danger of the Catholic religion, by this 
attempt of the Scots, who would introduce heresy 
wherever they should be masters, and begging not only 
his advice, but effectual assistance, in a cause that so 
nearly concerned the interests of the Holy See. The 



184 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

courier returned three days ago, with an answer as 
favourable as could be desired, namely, a grant of a 
million of pieces of eight yearly, to be raised on the 
church revenues all over the Indies, to be employed 
to this pious purpose ; so that whatever become of the 
Scots, whom this will never hurt, the King of Spain 
has, on this pretence, gained a million a year from the 
church for ever. 



TO THE EARL OF JERSEY. 

Madrid^ August 12, 1699. 

His Catholic Majesty is well again, almost to a 
miracle ; and, so far as I am able to judge by having 
seen him two several nights lately in the river,* has the 
very same looks I remember him in the time of his best 
health. Upon this unexpected recovery, the Queen and 
her party have resumed new courage and strength. 

* Paseo del Rio. At that period it appears that the bed of the 
Manzanares, being dry in summer, was used as the fashionable promenade. 
Calderon says of the adjoining walk> La Florida, that it would be the most 
beautiful in the world if the river were not sometimes wanting to the river ! 

" Que para ser la florida 

u Estacion de todo el orbe 

" La mas bella, hermosa y rica 

M Solo al rio falta el rio." 
But this, he adds, is an antiquated and long since exploded objection ! 

" Mas ya es objecion antigua !" 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



185 



TO MR. BLATHWAYTE. 

Madrid, August 13, 1699. 

The weather is extreme hot here and very sickly, the 
poor being still almost starved for want of bread after a 
very plentiful harvest, for which the wisdom of this 
Government has yet been able to find no other remedy 
than a Proclamation to send out of town the beggars 
that have nocked in upon us from the neighbouring 
countries since this dearth. They have not thought 
convenient to set a more moderate price upon corn for 
fear the countrymen should cease to bring it in; but 
the people begin to be so clamorous, that if something 
be not speedily done for their relief, there is great reason 
to fear another tumult, that may not be so easily 
appeased as the former. 



TO ADMIRAL AYLMER. 

Madrid, August 22, 1699. 

As to Court factions, her Majesty is now as high as 
ever ; and the Cardinal of Toledo, who carried every- 
thing before him two months ago, dares not now open 
his mouth, but is sullen, comes seldom to Court, and 
talks of retiring to Toledo. 

It is now two months since I delivered a paper here, 
by order from England, to desire you might have your 



186 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



provisions in all the Spanish ports free of the King's 
duties ; I have yet no answer, but am told I shall have 
it suddenly. Such as it is, I will send it to you to 
Cadiz. I am afraid it will not be favourable, because 
they are at present very angry with us upon account of 
the Scots at Darien, though I have in His Majesty's 
name disowned being any ways concerned in it. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, August 26, 1699. 
If you find probability of my continuance here, 
I desire you will find me out an ingenuous young man 
for a chaplain, capable of being a companion, the solitude 
of this place being the most uneasy part of the way of 
living. If you have any acquaintance you think proper, 
you need not doubt of my approving your choice. If not, 
I would have you make the compliment from me to the 
Bishop of Salisbury,* that he please to recommend me 
one : you will by that means also have an introduction 
into his acquaintance, which I desire you should ; for, 
notwithstanding the malice of some wanton scribblers, 
he has approved himself a very great man, and no 
clergyman of all has contributed more for our present 
settlement both in Church and State. My allowance is 
as formerly, forty pounds a year. He need find nothing ; 
and the reputation his having been here will give him at 



* Bishop Burnet. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 187 

his return, ought to make it a desirable condition for a 
young man who would advance himself in the world. 

My next want will be much harder for you to supply, 
I mean to get me a discreet house-keeper, or as we call 
it here, Muger de Govierno, of which my servant Mary 
is incapable. I will give twenty pounds a year, but she 
must be past gallanting and the vanities of youth. 



TO THE EARL OF JERSEY. 

Madrid, August 26, 1699. 

They are sending with all expedition three small 
vessels with arms, ammunition, &c, to Carthagena, to 
be employed against the six Scotch heretic ministers at 
Darien, who stick more in their stomachs here than all 
the other 1200 fighting laymen put together. 



TO MR. BLATHWAYTE. 

Madrid, August 27, 1699. 

As to what you say of the French new settlement on 
the river Mississippi, it ought to alarm them here as 
much as our Scots, but as yet, having it only extra- 
judicially by common fame, they take no notice of it, 
being not consistent with their gravity to seem to believe 
anything till they have the advice from their own 
Governors in those parts, as possibly they may of this a 
twelvemonth hence. 



188 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, September 9, 1699. 

People's minds seem as turbulently disposed as I 
have at any time known them. One night last week a 
troop of about 300. with swords, bucklers, and fire- 
arms, went into the outward court of the Palace, and 
under the Kind's window sung most impudent pasqiuns 
and lampoons, and the Queen does not appear m the 
streets without hearing herself cursed to her face. . . . 
These insolences are supposed to have occasioned a reso- 
lution, taken three days ago, for the Countess of Berlips, 
one great eye-sore of the people, to desire the King's 
leave to retire into Germany. The pasquins plainly tell 
the Queen they will pull her out of the Palace, and put 
her m a convent : adding, that then- party is no less 

than 14,000 strong This new turn has 

damped the discourse which was very hot lately of the 
Almirante's return to Court, and the Cardinal of Toledo 
is now like to be the great man again. Such is the 
present posture of our affairs, though probably I may 
tell you in my next the scene is again altered ; for in 
such a diseased, languishing state as this is, the same 
counsels can never hold Ions:. 



SPAIX UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 189 



TO ADMIRAL AYLMER. 

Madrid, September 15, 1699. 
The Spanish Gazette tells you our great German 
lady^ the Countess of Berlips, is going, nor does she go 
alone, but all the rest of the German tribe are to 
accompany her ; namely, a fine young lady, her niece, 
a German woman, a dwarf, * an eunuch, her Majesty's 
German doctor, the Capucin her confessor, and our 
Father Carpani, who has a character as Envoy from the 
Elector of Treves, and, though no German, yet one of 
her chief agents, and as great an eye-sore to the people 
as any of them. This seems a great reform, but I 
believe will prove no amendment at all \ for I expect to 
see others as greedy, if not more, to succeed in their 
places. 

The price of bread is much moderated here ; but it 
is a sicklier time than ever 1 have known, to such a 
degree, that any where else they would call it a plague ; 
yet it is only amongst the poorer sort, and occasioned, 
as is said, by the trash they have been forced to eat all 
this summer for want of wholesome bread. 

* These dwarfs seem to have been a part of the etiquette of the old 
Spanish Court. Madame de Villars, in describing the collation of Charles 
the Second and of his first Queen, says, " II y a deux nains qui sou- 
11 tiennent toujours la conversation." (Lettres, le 26 Janvier, 16S0.) 
Madame d'Aulnoy also, at about the same time, saw in high favour at the 
Queen-Mother's w une petite naine grosse comme un tonneau et pluscourte 
" qu'un potiron ! " (Voyage cTEspagne, vol. iii. p. 306.) 



190 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND, 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, October 1, 1699. 

I have yours of the 23d of August, with the Italian 
book. The Portugal Envoy and I both agree the author 
to be Gregorio Leti. His plans are all very fine, and 
there is nothing to be said against them, but that they 
are all impossible. His conclusion is extraordinary and 
ridiculous enough — to see him leave Spain in quiet 
possession of China and Japan ! 

Mr. Methuen has lately got much honour by his 
discreet management of a dispute with his Court, who 
stopped above fifteen days one of the King's men of war 
in Lisbon river, because the Captain would not deliver 
up an English seaman, upon that King's demanding 
him as being a Catholic, and other frivolous pretences, 
all which was instigated by our Queen Dowager, abused 
by Irish friars ; but the Envoy got the ship freed with- 
out giving up the man; and possibly further satisfaction 
will be expected for such an affront as was never before 
done to a King's man of war. 



TO THE EARL OF JERSEY. 

Madrid, October 21, 1699. 

All agree the King continues not only well, but 

grown more vigorous at the Escurial They 

there entertain themselves with a curiosity, in my 
opinion, very extravagant. The King, Queen, &c, 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 191 



went down together into the Pantheon, as they call it, 
which is a noble mausoleum, where all the Spanish 
princes of the House of Austria are buried, when they 
ordered all the areas to be opened, and the bodies to be 
exposed to public view. The Queen-Mother, who died 
last, was as entire as the first day, and without the least 
offence. The Queen carried the expression of her filial 
respect beyond what I had ever heard before, by taking 
her hand and kissing it. Another body, I think it was 
that of Philip the Third, seemed entire, but when they 
touched it, fell in pieces.* 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, October 21, 1699. 
They talk of a famous exorcist come from Germany, 
who has dissolved several charms by which the King 
has been bound ever since a child ; yet not all of them, 
but that there is great hope of the rest ; and then he 
will not only have perfect health, but succession. Laugh 
at this as much as you please, I was told it to-day by a 
reverend churchman. f 

* This plain narrative seems to throw great doubt on the more romantk 
story told by Ortiz, and after him by Coxe and Mr. Dunlop, that Charles, 
having on this occasion opened the coffin of his first Queen, found the 
beauty of her features still unimpaired, and rushed out of the vault ex- 
claiming, " I shall soon be with her in heaven \ n It may also be observed 
that this Princess had died of the small-pox, or rather, as some suspected, 
of poison ; and in either case her remains must very soon have displayed 
the marks of dissolution. 

•f Such superstitions were not uncommou in Spain at that period. — 
" Le Chambellan Comte de Benevente nous vint avertir l'autre jour en 



192 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



TO MR. ST ANY AN, SECRETARY OF EMBASSY, PARIS. 

Madrid, October 22, 1699. 

This Court is extremely pleased with the advice of 
the Scots' removal from Darien, which was a thorn they 
would never have been able to have pulled out without 
assistance from yours ; * and I assure you it was very 
lustily promised, and would certainly have been accepted, 
if the news had staid a little longer. 



TO DON ANTONIO DE UBILLA. 

[Translation.] 

Madrid, November 3, 1699. 

D N Alexandro Stanhope, Envoy Ex 1 ) of the King 
of Great Britain, kisses the hand of D n Antonio deUbilla, 
and says he has orders from the King his Master, imme- 
diately to pass to the Royal knowledge of his Catholic 
Majesty, the just motive of complaint given him by a 
paper which the Secretary of the Marquis de Canales, by 
order of his Majesty, delivered to the Lords Justices of 
England in London, of which the adjoined is a true 

" pleurant de nous metier d'une berline attelee que la Douairiere avait 
" donnee au Roi Catholique, et qui devait, disait-il, par l'effet d'un sor- 
e( tilege devenir caisse d'oranger, pendant que le Roi deviendrait oranger 
" en caisse !" (Louville to Torcy, May 19, 1701.) Yet these were the 
contemporaries of Locke and Newton ! 
* The Court of France. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 193 

copy, and from whose contents, besides the rude and 
provoking language, it is manifest the design of it was 
to stir up sedition in his kingdoms, by appealing to the 
Parliament and people of England against his Majesty, 
which is to own them for superiors to his Royal 
Person, than which nothing can be more absurd and 
contrary to the constitution of the Government of the 
Kingdom of England, and is what the said Marques de 
Canales, Ambassador of his Catholic Majesty, neither 
ought nor could be ignorant of, after so many years' 
residence in it ; notwithstanding which, the paper is 
full of contumelious terms to his Majesty's person, 
making use of several artifices of insinuations and 
threats purposely to breed a misunderstanding and 
dissension betwixt his Majesty and his subjects, an 
attempt which no Sovereign Prince can tolerate in his 
dominions; and therefore, the King of Great Britain, 
his Master, found himself necessitated to cut off short 
as soon as possible a mischief which, by the industry 
of the Marques, went on spreading itself daily, by 
ordering he should be required to go out of his 
kingdoms. And finally, the said paper being both in 
its expressions and substance by its example affrontive 
to the Majesty and Sacredness of all Kings, the King 
of Great Britain, his Master, does not believe it 
possible that the Marques writ or published it by 
orders of his Catholic Majesty: but, on the contrary, 
persuades himself, that this his resentment will be 
much to his Royal satisfaction, as made for the 
common cause of all Kings ; and D n Alexandro 
Stanhope will esteem that D n Antonio de Ubilla pass 

E 



194: SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

all this to the Royal knowledge of his Catholic Ma- 
jesty, whom God preserve, — remaining D u Antonio's 
most humble and affectionate servant, 

Alexander Stanhope. 



TO MR. YARD. 

Madrid, November -i, 1699. 

The sending away the Marques de Canales must, as 
you will believe, raise a great ferment here. It seems 
to me he had orders for the substance of his paper, and 
exceeded only in the unmannerly style of the expression. 
However, the brutality of the whole being so much 
condemned by every body, I have reason to believe they 
will disown and inflict some mark of then displeasure 
upon him. 

The King's designed voyage to the renowned sanc- 
tuary of Guadalupe is now put off, much against her 
Majesty's will, who designed to have carried him thence 
to Seville, to pass the winter, and the following summer 
at Granada, for she abhors Madrid, declaring that since 
the late tumult she does not believe either the King or 
herself safe there without a guard of 6000 men. All 
the Council here made then representations in vain to 
divert the voyage, which is since done on the frivolous 
pretence of the badness of the ways, and the shortness 
of time to mend them ; but in reality the King has 
not been well, and being one clay in great pain in 
his stomach, said to the Conde de Benevente, SumiUer 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 195 

de Corps, * " Este es un mal presage para el viage " — 
this is an ill omen for the voyage. The Conde answered, 
"Antes, Senor, es un aviso de Dios!" — it is rather, Sir, 
an admonition from God not to go ! 



TO THE EARL OF MANCHESTER, AMBASSADOR AT 
PARIS. 

Madrid, November 12, 1699. 
The next day after my last I had certain notice from 
several hands the King had taken his resolution of 
ordering me to begone ; whereupon at midnight I 
despatched to the Escurial my agent with the paper, of 
which the enclosed is a copy. The Secretary of the 
Despacho Universal, Don Antonio de Ubilla,t would 
not receive it, but was willing to hear the contents by 
word of mouth, and that was as much as I desired. Two 
days after, the Conductor, or Master of the Ceremonies, 
came to order me, in the King his master's name, to 
begone out of the Spanish dominions in eighteen days, 
and not to stir out of my house till I should begin my 
journey. I have every day since solicited my passports, 
being ready to begone whenever they give them me ; 

* High Chamberlain, 
f Afterwards created Marquis de Rivas. He was a man of high honour 
and ability, but somewhat slow and phlegmatic. — 11 Quand on presse Don 
u Antonio Ubiila, Secretaire du Conseil, d'expedier des depeches de six 
" semaines, il repond avec un beau sangfroid : En Espague les hommes ne 
" sont pas des oiseaux !" (Louville to Torcy, May 10, 1701.) 

K 2 



196 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

and am told the reason of the delay is to know by next 
post whether any passports, and in what form, were given 
to the Marques de Canales, in London, that they may 
exactly imitate the same with me. 

His Catholic Majesty has not been very well lately, 
which is all laid at the poor Queen's door. 



TO HIS SON, JAMES STANHOPE. 

Madrid, November 12, 1699. 

Time is precious, because short for the much I have 
to do. Monday is my day appointed to set out ; and I 
shall be ready, if they send me my passports. The 
story of my despedida here is too long to tell you now, 
but I am satisfied I have jugado el lance no mal ; my 
Lord Ambassador* will tell you something more parti- 
cular I am in vigorous health, so as to bear 

the cold and fatigue of such a journey ; and in order 
thereto shall go well provided both for inside and 
outside. 



M. SCHONENBERG TO THE HON. A. STANHOPE. 

Madrid, ce 17 Decembre, 1699. 
Je ne doute pas, Monsieur, que vous n'ayez deja 
appris la creation de neuf nouveaux Conseillers d'Etat, 
qui sont le Prince de Vaudemont, le Cardinal de Giudici, 
les Dues de Medina Celi, de Medina Sidonia, et de 



* At Paris. 



SPAIN UNDER CH A.KLES THE SECOND. 



19? 



Veraguas, de meme que les Corates de San Estevan, de 
Fuensalicla, de Montijo, et le Marquis del Fresno 
Cela joint a Fexil du Comte de Monterey, qui a ete 
oblige d^obeir et de partir, quoiqu'il ait remue ciel et 
terre pour flechir Sa Majeste, senible redonner du credit 
et de nouvelles forces au parti de la Reine, et ce d'autant 
plus que le Due de Medina Sidonia vient d'etre declare 
Mayor Domo Mayor du Roi, et le Conite de San 
Estevan Mayor Domo Mayor de la Reine, les incom- 
modites continuelles et moribondes du Marquis de Los 
Balbazes ayant oblige Sa Majeste a lejubiler. Tout le 
nionde est en attente si ces changeniens repandront 
quelques benignes influences sur les affaires, tant pu- 
bliques et generales que domestiques. Mais ceux qui 
pretendent connaitre la veritable situation des esprits, 
ne font pas paraitre beaucoup d'esperance, les inaux de 
la Monarcliie etant, ainsi que vous savez, trop inveteres 
et universels. 

Je suis, &c. 

SCHONENBERG, 



TO THE EARL OF JERSEY. 

Paris, December 23, 1699. 

The new Councillors of State in Spain, so many as 1 
know of them, I believe, will not so rashly rim them- 
selves and their King into so many absurdities as the 
old ones have done. I am heartily glad Monterey is 
banished; who was the most unmannerly, malicious 
enemy among them. 



198 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



I found great civility in my passage, both at Vitoria 
and the river that parts Spain and France, by virtue of 
his Catholic Majesty's passport, which the Alcaldes 
venerated by putting it on their heads,* and offered 
not to touch anything I carried. 



M. SCHONENBERG TO THE HON. A. STANHOPE. 

Madrid j ce 4 Novembre, 1700. 

Je ne vous dirai rien du fatal evenement de la 
maladie du Koi Catholique, puisque je ne doute pas que 
vous en recevrez la nouvelle par les differens couriers 
que quelques ministres ont trouve moyen de faire sortir, 
malgre les defenses au bureau des postes d'accorder des 
chevaux sans permission expresse. JPajoute seulement 
que son testament fut ouvert la meme nuit, et qu'on y 
a trouve nomme le Due d'Anjou pour successeur uni- 
versel, et par F extinction de la lignee, celle du Due de 
Berri doit saisir la couronne, qui par suite retournera a 
la maison d'Autriche par la branche de FArchiduc 
Charles, et successivement a la maison de Savoie ; mais, 
Monsieur, ainsi que vous savez, del dicho al hecho ha 
gran trecho. f Cependant, la Junta du Gouvernement 
a envoye d^abord Fextrait authentique du dit article a 
Sa Majeste Tres-Chretienne, sans s^ engager plus avant 
sur cette matiere, quoiqu^on en souhaite fort ici Fac- 

* See my previous note to the letter of June 24, 1694. 
t " II y a loin de Dire a Faire/ ' 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 199 



eomplissement, et qu'on s'en flatte comme d'une chose 
infaillible. 

Sur la nouvelle de Passemblage des troupes de France 
le long des Pirenees, cette Cour a envoye 3000 pistoles 
au Gouverneur de Navarre, et 5000 a celui de Guipuz- 
coa, conjointement avec quelques officiers reformes, afin 
de veiller sur les rnouvemens et les demarches de ces 
troupes-la. Ne dirait-on pas que P argent abonde ici, 
et qu'on ne sait qu'en faire, puisqu'on Pemploie si 
infructueusement, et mal a propos ? Mais vous savez 
quel est le genie de ces Messieurs. Au reste, tout est 
encore ici assez tranquille ; et pourvu que le ventre ne 
souffre point ; le reste ira comme il plait a la Providence. 

Le corps du Roi defunt a ete ouvert, et embaume 
hier, et doit etre transports demain au soir au Pantheon 
de PEscuriaL Le coeur n'etait pas plus gros qu'un 
oeuf de pigeon, et mol comme de la craie gatee. On a 
trouve le foie presque pourri, et une pierre au dedans de 
la grandeur d'une feve, et noir comme du cafe brule. 
En un mot, de tous les intestins il n'y a eu que la rate 
de saine. 

Je suis, &c. 

ScHONENBERG. 



I insert the following letter to Mr. A. Stanhope from 
the British Consul at Seville, as containing a valuable 
receipt not readily imparted by the Spaniards. 

It would seem that at this period ministers pleni- 



200 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

potentiary were sometimes addressed in the same form 
as peers, by their subordinates in office, 

Seville^ February 13, 1691. 

My Lord, 

These are only to bring to your Lordship's hands 

the enclosed receipt for a bag of melon seed 

Here the usual way to plant them is : first they put 
them six or eight hours into lukewarm water, and after- 
wards they put them into a blanket and let them lie 
about twenty-four hours in the sun wrapped in the 
blanket, in which time they open and seem to sprout at 
one end. Then they plant them three or five together 
in one hole ; and when they grow up, with an instru- 
ment of iron they rake them towards the root every 
day, so that the earth lies loose about them like the 
earth of a mole-hill. There are three sorts; Melon 
Mulato ; Melon Sequero, this requiring less watering ; 
and Melon Escrito, which is red within, with streaks, 
much like those in England. I shall be glad they 
arrive safe I have only to assure your Lord- 
ship I am, &c. 

Robert Godschall, 

Hon. Alexander Stanhope, 



The following letter is added from Mr. A. Stan- 
hope's papers, as giving a curious account of the state 
of the Moorish antiquities a century and a half ago. — 
Mr. Terrick was Mr. Stanhope's chaplain. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 201 



REV, SAMUEL TERRICK TO THE HON. A. STANHOPE. 

Granada, May 10, 1695. 

Honoured Sir, 
After seventeen days from our leaving Madrid, we 
got safe to Granada, where we have spent three days, 
and design to-morrow for Malaga. We took Cordova 
in our way, and stayed there a day : it is an old 
decaying city, about the bigness of Lichfield, seated in 
a plain, at the foot of Sierra Morena. It has the 
advantage of Granada only in the river Guadalquiver, 
which runs along one side of it, which affords them 
fish, and is a great refreshment and diversion to them 
all the year. The country about it is very pleasant and 
fruitful, the spring much forwarder than at Granada. 
Figs almost at their full bigness ; the vines had shot 
out a Vara in length, They had beans ten days before 
we arrived there ; and all this, notwithstanding the 
spring here, as well as in all other parts of Spain we 
have passed through, is judged to be a month later than 
other years. The only thing of curiosity there is the 
great church, formerly a Moorish mosque : it is an odd 
but a very curious piece of architecture, an exact square, 
full of pillars, which makes up a great many little but 
long aisles. The Spaniards, by placing in it so many 
altars, and raising in the middle a choir, have much 
defaced it. It is low-built, and is indeed so contrived 
as to invite to seriousness and devotion. From Cordova 
in three days we arrived at Granada ; and indeed I 
must confess, not only Mr. Gregory, but everybody else 

k 3 



202 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

I have heard speak of this place, have been very just in 
the character they give of it, and commend no more 
than it deserves. It has the greatest advantage of 
situation I ever saw. For three leagues about, there is 
a plain which seems one continual garden, except on the 
side of the Sierra Nevada, and even the bottom of that 
hill is green and fruitful. All this is watered by two 
little rivers which come from the hills, and never fail 
them all the year round.* Here is great abundance of 
all things, and commonly very cheap ; only this year 
the winter has been so very severe, as has something 
raised the price of things, and particularly of mutton. 
The city, according to the judgment I could make from 
so imperfect a prospect, is full as big as Bristol. The 
greatest part of the city lies down, the rest and the 
Alhambra upon two hills, to which the ascent is very 
easy. The buildings generally good; the streets 
capable of coaches ; not so spacious as those of Madrid, 
or yet so narrow as those of Toledo. As for the 
Alhambra, I never saw anything I admired more. 
Their choice in the situation, the magnificence of the 
fabric, and curiousness of the mosaic work and con- 
trivance in it, cannot be sufficiently commended. It 
is a piece of antiquity to be seen, not described in 
words. From it we had a prospect of the city and 
country, wherein nothing was wanting to please and 
divert the eye to the highest degree. It is very much 
decayed and neglected, and it is to be feared little will 

* The rivers Darro and Xenil. A traveller in 1628 tells us that the 
Darro was believed to carry fragments of gold in its stream, and the Xenil 
fragments of silver. (Voyages de Monconys, vol. iv. p. 53.) 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 203 

remain of it, if the Spaniards continue masters of it. 
From the Alhambra we went to pay our devotion to 
Monte Sacro, about a quarter of a mile from Granada. 
This is the place where the books and bodies of several 
martyrs were found about eighty years ago. The books 
are pretended to be no ancienter than fifty years after 
the death of our Saviour ; the bodies, those of the five 
disciples whom St. Jago sent to propagate the Gospel. 
The books are in all twenty-one, writ in Arabic ; one 
only in a language and character not yet known or 
seen. They are in wooden lanuiias, formed in the 
shape of a round box, with Rotulas about them in pure 
Spanish. There was found at the same time two 
Vinageras, a calix of lead, with all other necessaries for 
saying of mass ; there was also a leaden lamina, upon 
which were the words of consecration in Arabic ; only 
with this difference, Hoc est ipsissimum corpus meuni, 
instead of Hoc est enirn corpus meum. From what I 
have heard and seen here, and read in the book your 
Honour gave me in Madrid, I am convinced it is a cheat 
designed them by the Moors. Everything concerning 
this point is forbid them by the Inquisition, though 
there is an Oydor here writing in defence of them ; so 
that the people here seem to have taken a resolution 
to be cheated whether the Pope will or no. The 
Archbishop in wiiose time this discovery was made has 
founded there a noble college, wiiere they study philo- 
sophy and divinity. He left them a good revenue ; but 
they have spent it in the defence of w hat he discovered, 
and are still in a pleyto at home to get the Pope's 
approbation of the books, as well as he has done of the 



204 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



relics, both being found in the same place, and at the 
same time, There have been of these books two trans- 
lations ; the first the Holy Father, though he under- 
stands little of Arabic, did not at all like. The other 
translation, which is finer made, is more moderate, and 
comes nearer the Roman style, and so it is hoped will 
facilitate their approbation. They who make the 
greatest opposition against them are the Dominicans ; 
for as soon as these books are approved, they must no 
longer dispute the Immaculate Conception. 

I am, with all duty, &c. &c. 

Samuel Terrick. 

Note. — A full account of these pretended discoveries 
may be seen in Dr. Geddes's Tracts, vol. i. p. 345 — 383, 
ed. 1730. "At first/' says Dr. Geddes, "they were 
" unanimously judged to be genuine by all the critics 
" and antiquaries. The Archbishop caused a Te Deinn 
" to be sung with great solemnity in the cathedral . . . 
" and the people's devotion for the mountain which had 
" been delivered of so inestimable a treasure was so 
" great, that in a short time there were above four 
"hundred crosses erected upon it" But when this 
discovery was referred to Pope Clement the Eighth at 
Rome, the Dominicans, who were aimed at in a passage 
of the manuscript, undertook the part of critics, and 
put forth ten objections, which must be admitted to 
have some little weight. Perhaps the first three may 
be sufficient for the reader. 

1. That the prophecy found in the tower, though dated 
in the time of Nero, was in true modern Spanish. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



205 



2. That St. Cecilius is called in these prophecies 
Bishop of Granada ; whereas there was no such 
bishopric, and no such city, for a great many 
hundred years after Nero's death. 

3. That in these writings the Moors are named as 
in Spain, so that the writings were in danger of 
falling into their hands ; whereas it was nearly 
700 years after the death of Nero before the Moors 
came into Spain. 

An answer was published by the learned Dr. Madera, 
But as he is obliged to admit the matters of fact alleged 
in the objections, he is driven in his reply to some 
rather startling assertions ; such as that the Spanish 
language was the very same as it is now not only in 
Nero's days, but before any Romans ever came into 
Spain ; and that Arabic was a language used in Spain 
and Barbary long before they were conquered by the 
Arabs. But the great strength of the reply seems to 
be reserved for the following new arguments : — 

First, That these manuscripts and relics have as 
strong evidence of their being genuine, as those of 
St. Placidius found in Sicily. " I believe this may be 
" true," adds Dr. Geddes. 

Their second argument is, That " if these writings 
" were supposititious, they must have been forged 
" either by a Mahometan, an Heretic, or a Catholic. 
" The two first, great friends as they are to forgeries 
" of this nature, would not forge writings which 
" should condemn their own sects ; and as for a 



206 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

" Catholic, he is not capable of so ill a thing as the 
" counterfeiting of writings and putting Saints' names 
"to them! ;; 



Of the year 1691 I have inserted two letters to 
Mr. A. Stanhope from his son Janies, then on his way 
to Italy, because they described several places and pro- 
ceedings of the Spaniards ; and for the same reason 
I shall now give two others, written during the War of 
the Succession. 

COLONEL JAMES STANHOPE TO HIS FATHER 
(HON. A. STANHOPE). 

Rota, August 29, ] 702, X. S. 

After a tedious vovas:e. which was made longer than 
it needed to have been by having separated our fleets, 
we anchored in sight of Cadiz the 12th instant, 0. S. 
The next day was spent in consulting where we should 
land, our sea and land generals being of different 
opinions ; nor did they that day come to any resolution. 
Then perplexity was increased by the want of intelli- 
gence which could be relied upon; some advices making 
the enemy to be not above 2500 strong, and others 
making their strength, what within the walls and what 
without ; less than a day's march, to exceed 7000 ; nor 
do I find that we are yet particularly informed of their 
numbers, though I believe them to be about 4000 
within the town and neighbouring forts, which must be 
taken before we can besiege it. besides about six or 
seven hundred horse which lie without. This opinion 



SPAIN TJNDETt CHARLES THE SECOND. 207 

of their strength; much superior to what was expected, 
and the difficulties started by the seamen, determined 
the council of war to resolve upon landing at the bay 
of Bulls, and not on the island of Cadiz, which was the 
Duke of Ormondes opinion. Accordingly, the 15th we 
made our descent, with far greater hazard and difficulty 
than had been foreseen by our seamen ; for though the 
weather appeared moderate, there was such a surge on 
the strand that about twenty boats were sunk, and not 
a man got on shore who was not wet up to the neck. 
I must confess I never was so much afraid of drowning, 
and yet we lost not twenty men ; for, to do the sailors 
justice, I never saw fellows bolder than they were to 
leap into the sea and to rescue our men in distress. 
You will easily imagine that men landed in such a con- 
dition, with their arms and ammunition all wet, could 
not be very fit to encounter an enemy, if any consider- 
able strength had opposed them • yet some of them had 
an opportunity to show what Englishmen are capable 
of, for by that time about fourscore grenadiers, most of 
them of the Guards, were got on shore, got dry powder 
out of their grenades, and were drawn up in good order 
by Colonel Pierce of the Guards, there appeared three- 
score Spanish horse, commanded by a Lieutenant- 
General Don Felix Vallero, who charged them as briskly 
as ever I saw men; but were so well received, that 
their general, two officers, and seven or eight men, 
remained on the spot, and the rest retired and gave us 
no further disturbance. I am persuaded that two 
hundred more such would have spoiled our descent • 
nay, if those grenadiers had given way, I question 



208 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

whether we could have gone on. Our design after 
landing was to have attacked a little fort called 
St. Catherine, which was within half cannon shot of 
us ; but our men being thus harassed, and finding it 
impracticable to encamp there, because we could not 
be famished with anything from the fleet upon the 
least wind that should blow, we marched to this place, 
and have been these two days landing our horses 
and provisions. Our next march will be to Port 
St. Mary's, which is an open place, from whence Cadiz 
is supplied with provisions : and I doubt not but we 
may in a short time absolutely block it up. So that it 
seems to me that the success of our expedition depends 
upon one of these two things, — either the stores which 
they have in Cadiz, or the willingness of our fleet to 
winter here if there be occasion ; nor shall we desire 
that till we have made it a secure harbour, by taking 
all the forts which may annoy our ships. When that 
is done, I hope Sir George Rooke will be more tractable 
than we have found him hitherto. 

Our men continue pretty healthy as yet ; but we are 
afraid the heats, which are now excessive, together with 
fruit and new wine, may bring fevers and fluxes amongst 
them. However, considering the heats will daily abate, 
I am persuaded we shall continue strong enough to 
block up Cadiz, and to maintain ourselves against all 
the force Spain can bring against us, if our fleet will 
stand by us. 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 209 



Port St. Mary's, September 3, N.S. 

After writing what goes before, I found no oppor- 
tunity of sending it till now, so that I shall proceed in 
giving you an account till this time. On the 18th of 
August, 0. S., I writ a letter in Spanish by the Duke's 
order, directed to the governor, clergy, gentry, and 
inhabitants of this town, acquainting them with our 
resolution to march thither, and inviting them to stay 
in their houses, where we promised them all manner of 
good treatment, as the inhabitants of Rota had already 
found from us. With the letter was sent one of the 
Duke's declarations, which I send you inclosed. The 
Marques of Yilladarias* was in the town when our 
drummer carried it ; and after having threatened to 
hang him, sent us this answer, " Nos Espanoles no 
mudamos religion ni Rey" The 20th we marched with 
cannon, having left 300 men at Rota : 500 Spanish horse 
attended us during our whole march, in which we lost 
one horse killed. The 21st we came hither ; and found 
the town, which appears to be one of the richest in 
Spain, deserted by the inhabitants. About 300 soldiers 
of the enemy marched into it at one gate whilst we 
were coming in by the other : they did not think we 
had been so near, and their design was only to cross 

* The same already mentioned in this correspondence. His conduct 
before Cadiz was extremely brave and skilful. To a second solicitation 
from the Duke of Ormond he only answered that mori pro patria was his 
family motto, and that he had not degenerated. (Targe, Histoire de 
Bourbon, vol. ii. p. 268.) 



210 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

the town and retire to Xeres. We met them in the 
street ; and some of them were so foolish as to fire 
upon us, which might have cost them dear, and have 
occasioned the burning of the town. As I happened 
to be there I rid up to them, advised them to surrender, 
and offered them good quarter, which they gladly 
accepted. About 200 had, upon our appearance, 
betook themselves to a large strong house ; but upon 
our besetting it, it surrendered also upon discretion. 
The same evening I writ by the Duke's order to the 
Governor of St. Catherine, a fort which is of great 
consequence to us, because it hindered our communica- 
tion with the fleet, and threatened him with hanging if 
he waited till a cannon was fired. Colonel Pierce, with 
a company of grenadiers, was sent with the letter, we 
believing that he would immediately surrender. He 
gave no answer that night ; but our grenadiers pos- 
sessed themselves of his batteries (which might have 
been defended some days), and forced him into an old 
tower, whither I was sent yesterday to parly with him, 
and he surrendered at discretion ; so that our fleet may 
now ride in the bay of Cadiz in all security. After 
that our army shall have been refreshed a day or 
two here, we shall move on by land towards the bridge 
which joins the island of Cadiz to the continent, which, 
when we are once masters of, 'tis impossible the town 
can be supplied with any thing from without, either by 
sea or by land, and we are told they have not provisions 
for two months ; but were it true that they were pro- 
vided for six, it is as true they must fall at the end of 
six months, if our fleet will stay with us ; nor need we 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 211 



lose a man to take them in this manner, if the excessive 
heats and the force of their garrison should discourage 
us from attacking them in force. 

Thus much for news ; as to myself, I am, thank 
God, in perfect health. The Duke is very kind to me. 
What will become of me this winter I know not, 
though I believe I shall spend the best part of it in 
England, especially if I am in Parliament, which I yet 
know nothing of. I am ever 

Your most dutiful and obedient Son, 

James Stanhope. 

Sept. 4. — I am sorry to destroy by this postscript all 
the hopes you might have conceived by what went 
before, but I dare venture to assure you that our 
expedition is at an end from this day. A general 
council of war of the sea and land officers being held 
about what should be done next, they are come to no 
resolution, and are not divided only sea against land, 
but land against land and sea against sea. Now, if it 
be true that a house divided cannot stand, I am afraid 
'tis more true that an army and fleet divided each 
against itself and each against the other can make no 
conquests. The seamen here have all along been very 
resty, and I think truly were alone in the wrong till we 
came on shore ; but since we are got to this rich town 
many of our landmen have been so intent upon plunder, 
that little else has been thought of; and certainly 
never was a solemn Declaration, as is this which I send 
you inclosed, worse observed : so that the seamen have 
sufficiently wherewithal to recriminate any mismanage- 
ment which we might before very justly have laid to 



212 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



their charge. In all this matter no man is so much to 
be pitied as my Lord of Ormonde who, with the best 
and most generous inclinations, will suffer in his 
reputation by the wilfulness and avarice of others, and 
be, I truly believe, above ten thousand pounds out of 
pocket. I have time to say no more, being just going 
out with two thousand men, commanded by Sir Harry 
Bellasis, to attack the Marques of Villadarias, who, 
with his five or six hundred, has got together two or 
three thousand rascally foot militia within two miles 
of us. Our only apprehension is that lie will not stay 
for us. This, I doubt, will be the best success we shall 
have here, unless our love of plunder should lead us to 
treat Xeres and St. Lucar as we have done this place. 
So, with a great deal of plunder and infamy, we shall, 
I believe, be sailing homewards in three weeks. 



COLONEL JAMES STANHOPE TO HIS FATHER 
(HON. A. STANHOPE.) 

Lisbon, May 31, 1703. 

Sir, 

If you have received a letter which I writ last week 
to my mother, which I desired her to send, you will 
know that the reason of my long silence was a rheu- 
matism, which seized me at Portalegre so soon as I 
had marched thither, which was the quarter assigned 
to my regiment ; it was occasioned, I believe, by the 
fatigue of the most troublesome march, and in the 
worst weather that I have known in any country. I 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 213 

made use there of a Portuguese doctor, who, by 
bleeding and dieting me, had almost done my business; 
so that despairing of recovering there, I got a litter, 
and by easy days' journeys was transported hither. 
It is now a fortnight since I have been here in the 
Ambassador's house, and am extremely recovered ; 
insomuch that I hope in a fortnight more to be perfectly 
well, and able to return to my post. In the same 
letter I just mentioned the bad prospect of affairs here, 
which since that time I am sorry to tell you is grown 
much worse ; insomuch that if the enemies push their 
advantage, I see no human possibility of saving Lisbon 
but by a treaty. Their main army, with their King * 
at their head, for I am afraid we must now call him so, 
has marched without any opposition, except what was 
made by two or three castles very ill defended above 
half way from their frontiers hither ; whilst our troops, 
which if together are more numerous, remain, by the 
most unaccountable conduct that ever was, divided with 
the Tagus and the enemies betwixt them. The only 
body which lay betwixt the enemies and Lisbon was 
commanded by Lieutenant -General Fagel, and con- 
sisted of four Dutch and one Portuguese battalion. 
With this handful of men he made for some time the 
best countenance he could, retiring slowly as they ad- 
vanced; but at length being come to a post which he 
thought of consequence to make a stand at, he did so, 
and has lost two of his battalions, who fought very well, 
but are all killed or taken. The other battalions were 

* Philip the Fifth of Spain. The English continued to call him Duk© 
of Anjou till the Peace of Utrecht. 



214 SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 

in another post \ and with them he has retired to 
Abrantes, a large village on the river, where we had our 
stores, which he writes that he must abandon, it being 
entirely open. The King of Portugal set out from 
hence, two days before this news. He has with him, 
or following him from this town, about four battalions 
more, and four or five hundred horse and dragoons, 
half mounted and half on foot. With this body and 
the remainder of Fagel's must Lisbon be covered, there 
being no other within reach of joining the King so soon 
as the enemies may. Abrantes, we believe, they are 
masters of ere this, from whence they have twenty 
leagues to Lisbon. After all this terrible appearance 
'tis possible that want of provisions may retard their 
march, or that having their King with them they may 
be cautious of exposing his person by coming so far into 
an enemy's country when a body of twelve or fourteen 
thousand Portuguese, commanded by the Marquez Das 
Minas, is behind them. But this I will be bold to 
say, that if these or any other considerations of theirs 
should save us, it will not be owing to any measures 
that we take for our own security. That one great 
reason of this ill state of matters is the ignorance and 
pride both of these people, and of those who ought to 
have advised them better, if they had been capable of 
giving good advice or a good example, I can easily 
believe ; but I fear withal there is something more than 
ignorance, and that the King of France has his friends 
here as in other Courts ; for inferior officers amongst 
us have foreseen all that has happened long since, and 
cried out upon our disposing the troops at no less a 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



215 



distance than the whole length of Portugal, at there 
being no care taken to make a bridge and to secure 
a communication over the river, nor to provide maga- 
zines to enable the army to draw together and subsist. 
In short if the King of France had had an Intendant 
here to make a disposition of military matters, it could 
not have been more to his advantage. If people's sus- 
picions here are well grounded, and that former reports 
which you have heard be true, that this King used 
sometimes to cane the Duke of Cadaval, he is in a fair 
way of being well revenged on his master, for he has 
the chief direction and command of all the troops. He 
caressed our Duke* extremely at his arrival, and 
governed him in everything, even so far as to make him 
acquiesce sometimes in dispositions he had made, 
which were not only disapproved by all officers, but 
opposed by the King, who suffered himself to be over- 
ruled by our Duke. One thing I must mention, which 
is very extraordinary, and which increases one's spleen 
at this management, since it shows what would have 
been if right measures had been taken ; and that is, 
that notwithstanding the great success of our enemies, 
and the plenty and licentiousness which are allowed in 
a victorious army that fears no enemy, there have de- 
serted from them since they took the field two thousand 
Spaniards. 

That you may satisfy yourself of the situation of our 
affairs by looking into a map, you must know that by 
our last advices the Marquez Das Minas was with his 
body marching, or preparing to march, from Almeida 



* Schomberg. 



216 



SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND. 



towards the Tagus, in order to intercept then convoys. 
Duke Schoniberg, with all the English foot, and all the 
troops the Portuguese have in Alenitejo, was at Elvas, 
preparing to march towards the river likewise, over 
against Santarem, which is between Abrantes and 
Lisbon, in order to pass it thereabout in boats to come 
to the King's assistance. The Prince of Tserclaes has 
a body in Alemtejo, which they weaken or strengthen 
at pleasure, by sen chug troops backwards and forwards 
over the river, which they command, and by that 
means can bring their whole force together to fall upon 
either of our bodies if they do not move with great 
circumspection. The enemy's main body I have already 
told you that we suppose by this time to be at or near 
Abrantes, between which and Lisbon we can make 
up about 4500 men. Besides the vast disadvantage 
which 'tis evident we lie under by the situation of our 
armies, whether either of our bodies has carriages or 
provisions sufficient for their march is a question none 
of the Portuguese ministers here can answer. I have 
been but too tedious upon so disagreeable a subject, 
therefore conclude ; and am, Sir, 

Your most dutiful and obedient son, 

James Stanhope. 

THE END. 



LONDON : 

BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITE FRIA RS. 



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